Remnant's White Light
by TheFlyingWelshman1
Summary: One year after Salem's defeat, Ruby Rose now runs the rebuilt Beacon Academy as it's headmistress. But when three Keyblade wielders show up claiming that her world is in danger, she must take up her scythe for one last adventure. Adult!Ruby. Rated T for violence. Cover art by dishwasher1910. Please read and review.
1. Prologue

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Prologue**

 **Beacon Academy, Vale.**

 **Headmaster's office.**

 **Three years after the reclamation.**

Ruby Rose's eyes fluttered open as she lifted her head off the large desk in front of her and looked around. _Yawn._ "Did I fall asleep in my office again?" She mumbled, reaching for her Scroll to check the time. Once she saw the time, her eyes widened. "6:00!? Crap, I need to get ready!" She jumped up and ran to the elevator door, now wide awake. As the elevator descended, Ruby checked her outfit and decided she only had to change her shirt. Once the elevator doors opened, she grabbed a sleeveless red dress shirt to replace her dirty one as well as some clean underwear, then ran into her personal washroom to turn on the shower since there wasn't enough time for a bath. Setting her outfit on the bathroom counter, Ruby stepped into the steaming hot shower. While shampooing her now back-length black and red hair, she she let her mind wander to the past and how she got here.

After the Fall of Beacon six years ago, Ruby set out to find and stop the people responsible for destroying her school and killing two of her closest friends. Joining her were the remaining three members of Team JNPR: Jaune Arc, the lovable and funny leader; Nora Valkyrie, the eccentric and bubbly hammer swinger; and Lie Ren, the quiet and stoic ninja. Eventually, Ruby was also reunited with her own team: RWBY, consisting of Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Dust Company; Blake Belladonna, the stoic former extremist; and Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's hotheaded older sister. In addition, a young boy by the name of Oscar Pine (who was actually a reincarnation of the late Professor Ozpin) joined the group. The journey to save the world of Remnant took the eight of them to all four kingdoms, and while they couldn't save everyone, they did manage to prevent the other Academies from falling into the claws of the Grimm. Unfortunately, things eventually became much worse for the young heroes.

After scrubbing her body clean, Ruby got out of the shower and grabbed the nearest towel, wrapping it around her torso. After brushing her teeth and carefully drying her hair, she looked at herself in the full-body mirror, admiring how much she grew over the years. Having turned twenty one a few months ago, Ruby lost most of her childlike looks and matured significantly. She was as tall as her sister now, with large D-Cup breasts and similarly large hips, giving her a near perfect hourglass figure. She was also somewhat muscular, with lean arms and legs. There were several scars lacing her body, most of the smaller ones covering her arms and legs. The biggest and most prominent marks however, were the two long diagonal scars crisscrossing her upper chest in an "X" shape, each one caused by a different person. In a way, though, these marks of battle only made her more beautiful— in a "hardened warrior" sort of way. Eventually her silver eyes wandered up to her face, where she traced her sharper jawline and more feminine features. When her gaze fell on the area around her left eye, however, she noticed the extremely faint burn mark going from the center of her forehead down to just below her cheekbone and covering everything all the way to her ear. Ruby shuddered slightly when she remembered that her well-endowed body originally belonged to someone she had fought against for five long years.

 _Cinder._

As Ruby stared at the burn mark, her mind went back to the long and violent conflict that occurred between the two opposing warriors.

Cinder Fall, a cunning warrior and the mastermind behind the Fall of Beacon, had eventually acquired the powers of the four Seasonal Maidens: powerful mages who can wield the elements without needing Dust. However, in order to keep these powers in check, Cinder had to steal Ruby's soul because Ruby was one of the last Gintama— silver-eyed beings born with the power to unleash and manipulate raw energy in its purest form: white light. To make matters worse, the false Maiden had a personal vendetta against Ruby because she had severely disfigured Cinder the night Beacon fell. After being chased all over the world, the eight heroes were eventually cornered and forced into a long and heated battle with her— a battle that Cinder won, ripping Ruby's soul from her body and incinerating the empty shell for good measure.

By some miracle however, Ruby was able to maintain her individuality inside Cinder's body. Waiting for the right time to strike, the young warrior learned all about Cinder's master: the Dark Queen, Salem. Salem was an ancient evil being who controlled the Creatures of Grimm, and had been trying to wipe mankind from existence. Eventually Salem and her pawns managed to collect the four Relics of Power— ancient artifacts that possessed immense power. Each one represented one of the four traits mankind possess: Knowledge, Creation, Destruction and Choice, but gathering all four together allowed someone to reshape reality itself.

When Salem was about to use the Relics to render mankind extinct Ruby's friends and sister attacked the Evernight Palace and distracted her, causing Cinder to lose her temper and attack them. With Ruby subtly limiting her power and a vengeance-fueled Yang pummeling her into the ground, the false Maiden soon lost what was left of her sanity, as well as her control over the souls of the previous Maidens. Their individuality restored, the four Maidens took away Cinder's control over her body and stripped her of her individuality, handing control over to Ruby. After a tearful reunion with her sister, Ruby immediately attacked Salem, grabbed the Relics and activated them. With all that power at her fingertips, she was tempted to use it to bring back all of the friends she lost over the years, but in the end she decided to change reality by depowering the Relics spreading their power to each and every person on Remnant.

Upon doing so, an outside force remolded Cinder's body into the same shape as Ruby's original, while removing the souls of Cinder and the other Maidens. This same force boosted her own powers and bestowed her the knowledge of every ability she had, turning her into a fully realized Gintama. After one last, titanic battle, Ruby destroyed the Dark Queen once and for all and secured her place in history as the savior of mankind.

Shaking the memories out of her head, Ruby finished drying off and got dressed. Her current job didn't require her combat gear, so she took to wearing black slacks held up by a red belt, a red sleeveless dress shirt, and a black bolero jacket with red lining and fitted sleeves. After that she straightened her hair and brushed the bangs to the right like she always does. Afterwards, her eyes drifted down to the container of powder makeup on her counter, a gift from Weiss. Taking the applicator out of the container, she stared at it for a while before changing her mind and putting it back, remembering the last time she tried putting makeup on. Putting on a pair of heavy boots, she quickly returned to her office: the one that once belonged to the late Professor Ozpin.

 **Gummi Ship, Unknown space.**

Sora carefully maneuvered the Gummi Ship through a field of asteroids while on his way to Yen Sid's tower. He wasn't sure why the old master summoned him, but he was sure he would find out once he got there. "Alright, how much longer before I get there?" He asked himself, checking the navigator to find out. "Thirty minutes, huh? Well I guess I've got some time to kill." Exiting the asteroid field, Sora turned on the autopilot and stood from his seat, stretching the stiffness out of his body. Normally he would have Donald and Goofy to talk to, but for some reason Yen Sid wanted Sora to come alone. 'Maybe I'm supposed to take the Mark of Mastery Exam again.' Sora thought. It would make sense, considering it's been years since he failed his first time, and he's been training nonstop since then.

Sora made a face as he remembered his failure. The reason why was simple: he couldn't resist the darkness and almost became Xehanort's vessel. Were it not for the timely intervention of Riku, the King and Lea, Sora would have become the thirteenth member of the new Organization XIII. Even though he accepted the fact that he failed the exam, it still hurt his pride a bit knowing that Riku was ahead of him. Since then Sora had been training constantly, traveling from world to world, battling Heartless and Nobodies while trying to learn how to resist the darkness in his heart. So far, he's been making good progress on containing his inner shadow, but "good progress" wasn't enough to stop Xehanort from forcing his control over Sora.

A sound from the Gummi computer distracted him from his thoughts. Looking over at the display, he realized that he was already near the tower. Turning off the autopilot, Sora maneuvered the ship towards the landing site near the base of the tower. Exiting the ship and entering the tower, he made his way up the seemingly endless flights of stairs, wishing for the hundredth time that there was another way up. When he finally made it to the Sorcerer's Loft at the top of the tower, he prepared to stand at attention and salute.

"Sora!" He heard a familiar voice call out, and suddenly he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "Kairi!" Sora said, happily returning the hug, "What are you doing here? Where's Lea?" Releasing him, Kairi stepped back a bit. "He's still training on other worlds. Master Yen Sid summoned me here for some reason, but I don't know what."

"Same here," another voice said from behind Sora. Turning quickly, he saw his old friend Riku standing in the doorway, a smile on his face. "Hey Sora, long time no see." "Hey Riku," Sora replied. "Have you found Aqua yet?" Riku shook his head. "The King is still looking for her." Sora sighed, "Right. So, do you know why Old Yen Sid called for us?" Riku shook his head again, before looking behind Sora and Kairi and replying, "How about you ask him yourself?"

"Huh?" Sora and Kairi both turned around to see the two-bearded wizard sitting in the large chair behind his desk, having seemingly materialized out of nowhere.

"Welcome back, chosen wielders of the Keyblade." Yen Sid greeted in his deep voice as the trio stood at attention. "I apologize for the abrupt summons, but I'm afraid that this cannot wait. Not long ago, I felt a disturbance: Xehanort has arrived on a new world that has only been visited by a handful of Keyblade wielders: the World of Remnant. I fear that he may be searching for knowledge vital to forging the _X_ -blade, and if he remains there for too long, the world's inhabitants may act rashly."

"Okay, but why send the three of us?" Sora asked. "I mean, I get that Xehanort has to be stopped and all, but Kairi's still training and Riku needs to find Aqua. Why not just send Donald, Goofy and me?"

"The natives of Remnant never dealt with change very well," Yen Sid replied calmly. "There are also creatures of darkness other than the Heartless that feed on the negative emotions of said natives. If Donald or Goofy were to be spotted, it could cause panic throughout, which would attract these other creatures and cause significant damage. The King is likewise forbidden to enter that world for the same reason. In order to preserve the balance of Remnant, the three of you must go alone." The three friends looked at each other and nodded before turning to face the old master. "You can count on us, Master." Sora promised. "Now now, just a moment," Yen Sid said. "As I have said, the balance of this world is a fragile one, and a Keyblade wielder hasn't been there for more than 70 years. However, there is a man who has extensive knowledge about the world of Remnant, and may be able to help you when you arrive. Sora, Riku, Kairi. You three must tread with the utmost care: do not use the Keyblade in public, no matter how necessary it may seem. The same applies to your magic, use it sparingly. Most importantly though, be vigilant: this world is an unforgiving one." The trio nodded in understanding, and Yen Sid smiled. "Now, that is all the information I can give you. Go forth, Sora Riku and Kairi."

"Yes, Master Yen Sid!" The three answers at the same time, before leaving the loft and heading down the stairs to the _Highwind_.

 **The Eastern Mountains, Vale Outskirts.**

The range of steep mountains have always served as a steadfast natural barrier from the creatures of Grimm. The larger species can't make the steep climb or navigate the narrow paths, and the smaller ones that can are forced into narrow choke points, making them easy targets for the border patrols. The two figures at the summit of one of the taller mountains however, couldn't care less about the plight of these creatures. Both looked almost identical, tall with silver hair and almost glowing yellow eyes. However, there were some differences: one of the men had darker skin and his hair was well kept, while the other had skin of a noticeably lighter shade and more unkempt hair. The lighter skinned one (Xemnas), also had no emotion on his face, while the other (Ansem) wore sadistic smile, his eyes full of insane glee. Both had come to this world to research the workings of the soul, believing the knowledge to be useful to Organization XIII and it's goal.

"The World of Remnant," Ansem stated eagerly. "Never before have I seen a world with it's own creatures of darkness. I should have visited here long ago."

"Perhaps so," Xemnas replied in his monotone voice, "but let's not forget why we are here: to unravel the mysteries of the soul and it's power."

"Xemnas, how can you not be interested in what other mysteries this world possesses?" Ansem asked. "It's practically an untapped well of potential, just waiting to be exploited."

"We must stay focused on our mission." Xemnas stated firmly. "Nothing is more important or takes precedence over our goal." Ansem sighed irritably. Being Xehanort's Heartless he understood the importance of the mission perfectly well, but the potential that this new world holds was simply too great to pass up. "That being said," Xemnas added, "there are two of us, and if I had a heart, it would be aching to understand the nature of the Creatures of Grimm, as well as test the strength of this world's warriors and their hearts."

Upon hearing this, Ansem grinned, rubbing his hands together eagerly. "Perfect," he said, looking out into the distance at the large structure that was the newly rebuilt Beacon Academy, sensing an incredibly strong presence inside it's tall tower. "And I know just where to start."

 **To be continued…**


	2. The Encounter pt 1

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Chapter 1**

 **The Encounter, pt. 1**

 **Forever Fall Forest.**

 **Vale outskirts**

Ansem strolled through the dense forest of reddish-orange trees and grass, heading for Beacon Academy. He could have simply used a Corridor of Darkness to travel there, but he decided to walk there instead because he was secretly hoping to run into one of this world's monsters. While Xemnas didn't care about them, Ansem was transfixed by the mere sight of one and was desperate to learn more. 'The Creatures of Grimm,' he thought to himself. 'What a fitting name for such unique and frightening monsters. The Heartless attack others in order to increase their numbers, but the Grimm exist only to destroy. And yet I feel as though we are kin— we are both soulless creatures born from darkness.'

Understanding that they were not his main objective, Ansem decided to focus on the presence he felt at the school. Having passed through a settlement earlier, he asked around in order to find out who was in charge, believing it to be the source of the energy he had sensed. What he learned both disappointed and intrigued the Heartless. 'The headmistress of Beacon Academy, Ruby Rose, is nothing more than a twenty one year old brat.' He grumbled internally. 'How can someone that young possess that much power without a Keyblade? Something about this doesn't seem right.' Every person he spoke to only seemed to confirm his suspicions. They said that although she was supposedly extremely skilled and strong, they had never seen her fight before. 'Maybe I felt someone else's power,' Ansem thought, 'I may have been defeated by a fourteen year old boy, but he possessed the Keyblade. This girl couldn't possibly–'

A growl interrupted his train of thought. Turning slowly, Ansem came face to face with an Alpha Beowolf, one of the older species of Grimm. The creature seemed confused by his presence, but Ansem was too transfixed to care. "Beautiful," the Dark Seeker muttered. "What secrets could you be hiding behind that dark shell?" Raising a hand towards its bone white face, he focused on probing into its mind.

He got much more than he bargained for. Upon gaining access, Ansem realized that every creature of Grimm is connected with each other in a massive web of information. Making his way through the web, he focused on anything regarding Ruby Rose and her power, eventually finding the information he wanted. He saw a young girl, no older than fifteen, slicing her way through dozens of Beowolves armed with a massive scythe. She was moving so fast the creatures couldn't keep up with her, but at one point she stopped and Ansem was able to get a clear image of her. He saw that her hair was a peculiar color, being black at the roots and turning red towards the tips. But what caught his attention the most were her eyes, which were a shining silver color.

Continuing through the web, Ansem saw many different feats that the little girl performed over the years of her life, including the first time she unleashed the white light that dwelled within her, the time she learned to control it, and the many, many Grimm she slaughtered over the years. Eventually he came across the battle between the girl— now a young woman— and a dark being of incredible power, one he had never seen before. The battle was so intense that it destroyed the dark palace the two were fighting in, and while Ansem couldn't see the end, he sensed that the dark being perished as well.

Removing his hand from the Beowolf's face, Ansem watched as the creature left him to his thoughts. 'So I was right after all, This Ruby Rose _was_ the presence I felt before. But just how powerful is she? I must know the answer!' His curiosity towards the Grimm sated— at least for the time being— Ansem opened a Corridor of Darkness and stepped through, grinning from ear to ear. 'Prepare yourself, Ruby Rose. Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness is coming for you.'

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Headmaster's Office**

Ruby tapped her fingers on the armrest of her chair as she scanned her eyes through this year's scores for the Beacon Combat Exam. Part of her job as the headmistress of the school was selecting which students were most likely to stand out. Over two hundred teenagers took the exam and only fifty of them failed, so she had a lot of potential students to check. On top of that, she added a new part to the exam: the psyche test. This new addition was meant for Ruby to be able to keep a silver eye on certain students who may have the potential to go rogue. During Ruby's journey, she and her friends were hunted down by several Huntsmen and Huntresses who had strayed from their path and became little more than killers for hire. She hoped that she could lessen their numbers by reviewing the answers the students gave for questions about their views on certain things, like racial discrimination, law enforcement, political frustrations, and the true reason why they wanted to become Huntsmen in the first place. While she believed it might work, it also made her job much more tedious.

Luckily, she didn't have to do it alone. Ozpin's former second in command, Glynda Goodwitch, decided to stay and help Ruby run things until the young headmistress got her bearings. They didn't always see eye to eye, though— the psyche exam was just one of the things they disagreed on. Glynda was part of a group called the Guardians of Remnant, a secret organization whose soul purpose was to protect the people from the evils that they didn't even know existed. When Ruby decided to become the next head of Beacon, she opted to not join the organization in order to pursue her own goals. This led to many heated discussions with Glynda, as well as her uncle Qrow Branwen, who was also a member of the Guardians.

Ruby and Qrow would argue for hours about how to run the school. During their most heated debate, Ruby accused Qrow of blindly following Ozpin just because he had generations of experience, and even went so far as to call him a lemming. Qrow responded by saying that she was never even going to make it to headmistress, and told her to give up and focus on something more real, like being an ordinary Huntress. After the argument the two grew apart from each other, and while they were still able to work together, they didn't talk much and kept their distance despite Yang trying to get them to make up.

This rift between them was one of the many things Ruby came to regret when Cinder shot an arrow through Qrow's head, killing him instantly.

Shaking the thoughts out of her head, Ruby returned to the exam scores. "Let's see," she said to herself. "Eric Pavonine: a bit self absorbed, but scored well on the physical exam. Put him on the right team and he should be fine. Lilian Royal: shy, timid, but very kind; also scored well. I don't think I have to worry about her. Nox Timore: near perfect score on the physical exam, but wow does he have an attitude. I should definitely keep an eye on him. Xe–"

Ruby was then interrupted by the ringtone of her scroll. Taking it out of her pocket, she smiled happily when she checked the caller ID. Placing the scroll down on her desk, a holographic screen appeared showing the smiling face of her sister, Yang Xiao Long. "Hello, Headmistress Rose," Yang said playfully, causing her sister to wince slightly. "Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to calling you that."

"Yang, you know I don't like my friends calling me that." Ruby grumbled. She didn't mind her students calling her Professor Rose, but Headmistress Rose made her feel older than she was. "How would you like it if I started calling you Ma'am?" She immediately saw Yang flinch at that and figured she'd change the subject before it got out of hand. "So, how's it going over in Vacuo?"

"It's been busy. There are still lots of Grimm to push back, but we're making plenty of progress." Yang replied. After Salem's defeat, the members of team RWBY went their separate ways. Ruby stayed in Vale to run Beacon, Weiss returned to Atlas to take over as CEO of the Schnee Dust Company, Blake went back to Menagerie to lead the White Fang, and Yang headed to Vacuo to help push back the Grimm that were invading the kingdom. Ruby had offered her a teaching job at the Academy, but Yang hadn't quite had enough adventures yet, and there was never a dull moment during the last time they were there. "What about you," Yang continued. "How's the new head of Beacon settling in?"

"I've been kept pretty busy," Ruby replied, leaning in her chair tiredly. "Introducing the psyche exam didn't exactly sit well with Glynda, but I still think it's a good way to prevent some Huntsmen from going rogue. The only real problem is that it makes my job a lot more tedious." She pinched the bridge of her nose before reaching for the mug on her desk and taking a sip. "That's not coffee, is it?" Yang asked, sounding concerned.

"Espresso," Ruby replied, grinning at how her sister's lilac eyes widened in shock. The last time Ruby had Espresso, she literally couldn't stand still. Yang practically had to hold her little sister down to keep her from running all over the place. "Just goes to show how much this job sucks out of you." Ruby said, still grinning. "I think I fell asleep on my desk five times."

"That can't be good for your health," Yang said, causing Ruby to chuckle. "Probably isn't that great for your relationship either." Yang continued, immediately getting a reaction out of her little sister.

"Yang, how many times do I have to tell you, Jaune and I aren't a couple!" Ruby growled. She hated how Yang was trying to get the two of them together. Jaune had tried to ask her out back when the heroes were still together, but Ruby was still hurting from her last "relationship." So she refused, much to Yang's displeasure because she thought the two were perfect for each other.

"Okay, okay, I can take a hint, you're still not over what Whitley did to you." Yang held her hands up, one organic, the other metal. "You're still coming to the Reunion though, even if I have to drag you there. I don't care how busy you are, you're not missing this."

"Relax Yang, I'll be there." Ruby replied, taking another sip of Espresso. "I'm not going to miss out on seeing everyone again." The Reunion was an idea that Ruby came up with: every year before school starts, all the members of teams RWBY, JNPR and SSSN come together for ten days to talk, relax and catch up on everything they had done over the past year. Ruby was looking forward to the ten work free days, but was trying to get as much work done as possible before it started, hence her exhaustion. "Look, we'll talk more when you get to Vale," Ruby said, "Right now I need to finish going over these exa-"

 _FOOM!_

A sudden noise filled the office, startling Ruby into dropping her mug on the ground. "Ruby? What happened?" Yang asked, worry in her voice. "What was that sound?"

"Yang, I'm gonna have to call you back." Ruby said simply, hanging up and pocketing her Scroll. Looking up, she saw a swirling black and purple portal directly in front of her desk. 'A dark portal?' She thought to herself, 'but how? Everyone who used dark portals lost the ability to conjure them when I killed Salem. Wait, this one's different: it's black and purple, not black and red. What's going on?'

She soon got her answer when a figure stepped through the portal. The individual was a man in his mid thirties with dark skin, yellow eyes and silver hair. The man was dressed entirely in black: pants, boots and a long, hooded coat with multiple zippers. If the portal wasn't enough to tell Ruby that this man was dangerous, then the grin on his face would have sent up a red flag. Still, she decided to play it cool, and sat back in her chair with an unimpressed look on her face. "Can I help you, sir?" She asked, "I'm kinda in the middle of something, here."

"Are you Ruby Rose, Headmistress of Beacon Academy?" The man asked, casting an eye over her form. He seemed both disappointed and intrigued by her. "That depends," Ruby replied, her hand slowly moving under her desk. "Who wants to know, and why?"

"Ah, my apologies," the man said sarcastically. "I forgot my manners. My name is Ansem, and I have heard much about you: You have battled the darkness for most of your life, unleashed a latent power you didn't even know existed, lost everything only to reclaim it with your own two hands, and now here you are, at the very top of same school you studied at, teaching warriors to battle the darkness just as you did only a couple of years ago."

Ruby's eyes narrowed. This man knew more about her than she was comfortable with, and she had a feeling he wasn't finished gloating yet. So she stayed quiet and let him continue, hoping he would reveal more than he meant to. All the while, the hand under her desk slowly inched closer to a button she installed just in case of something like this.

"However," Ansem continued, slowly walking towards the desk. "I have never seen you in a fight before, and apparently, neither has anyone else in this kingdom. Since I am researching the nature of the soul, and because I am too curious to ignore such a mystery, I figured I would test your skills and strength in battle. Are you interested?" He asked, placing his hands on the desk.

"I don't know," Ruby replied innocently, her finger finding the button under her desk. "Does this answer your question?" She asked, pressing the button.

Ansem immediately sensed something behind him, and he turned around to see a large sword shoot up from a compartment in the floor, forcing him to bend backwards to avoid it. As he dodged the sword, Ruby leapt from her desk and grabbed it from the air, bringing it down towards his head. Unfortunately, Ansem dashed out of the way, almost too fast for her to follow, and grabbed her by her neck. Reacting immediately, Ruby brought up her uncle's sword, Qlockwork, and slashed at his face forcing him to drop her. Jumping out of his reach, Ruby transformed Qlockwork into its shotgun form and blasted Ansem, who blocked it with a dark shield. Returning her weapon to its sword form, Ruby assumed her fighting stance and glared at Ansem, Who was grinning evilly.

"It seems that you are smarter than I thought." The man in black said. "Unfortunately, this office is too small for a proper test of your strength. Let us take this... somewhere else." Raising a hand at her, Ansem focused on his intended destination.

 _FOOM!_

Hearing a noise from behind her, Ruby turned around to see another dark portal open. Realizing what was about to happen, she spun back around just in time for Ansem to kick her in the stomach and send her flying into the portal. Her Gintama powers instantly flared up in response to the darkness surrounding her, causing her eyes to glow brightly as she passed through until she hit the ground and tumbled, ending up face down in a grassy field.

'Why do I _always_ fall for that?' Ruby thought as she picked herself off the ground and looked around. It only took her a few seconds to realize where she was: the Emerald Forest. Smiling to herself, the young Headmistress dug her Scroll out of her pocket and typed in a special code, before pocketing it again and shrugging off her jacket, Qlockwork held firmly in her left hand. 'I just need to hold out for as long as I can if I can't beat him.' She thought, still irritated that Ansem tricked her into letting her guard down. This was probably the fourth time she was thrown through a dark portal against her will, and it was always the same way: someone would conjure one behind her, let her get distracted by it, then kick her through while her back was turned.

Ruby was distracted from her thoughts when Ansem walked out of the portal, carrying a large, double bladed pole-arm. He must have noticed the irritation on her face because his grin only grew wider. "There," he said. "This looks like a much better battlefield for us to fight in."

The two warriors assumed their fighting stances: Ansem placed his right foot behind his left and held his left hand out in front of him, his pole-arm held in his right hand which was level with his head, one wing-shaped blade pointed at Ruby. Ruby placed her right foot slightly forward and hunched forward, hands at her sides and Qlockwork angled slightly upward.

A second passed. Two. Three. Then the two fighters dashed forward, their weapons meeting with a resounding _CLANG!_ Ruby pushed towards Ansem with her weapon, and Ansem responded in kind. Breaking the lock, Ruby slashed at him three times, with Ansem ducking under each one before retaliating with two diagonal slashes using both blades at the same time. Ruby dodged the first slash and parried the second, following with a heavy downward swing that Ansem dashed around to get behind her, thrusting his blade forward. Bringing her sword to her back, she blocked the attack before spinning around and slashing at Ansem's midsection, forcing him to jump back.

Switching tactics, the man in black began sending dark shock waves at Ruby, who jumped from side to side to avoid them. Activating her Semblance, Ruby surged towards Ansem in a flurry of rose petals, stopping right behind him and slashing at his back. Again, Ansem jumped away from the attack and launched two spinning energy blades from his pole-arm at Ruby. The Headmistress deflected one but the other hit her, causing her to flinch in pain and leave herself open to another attack. Grinning widely, Ansem surged forward and stabbed at Ruby with his blade. However, in one smooth motion, Ruby recovered, deflected the blade and punched Ansem directly in the mouth.

Ansem recoiled from the force of the punch, surprised by how much it hurt. "Impressive," the Dark Seeker admitted. "You are stronger than I thought, Ruby Rose."

"I'm just getting warmed up, Ansem!" Ruby retorted, pulling the trigger on Qlockwork's hilt and activating the clockwork mechanism in the blade, within seconds, the large sword transformed into an even larger scythe, which she pointed challengingly at Ansem. The man in black's eyes widened, then narrowed as he charged at the Huntress, slashing wildly.

Ruby dodged most of the slashes, but two of them managed to land on her, causing her Aura to flare up and flinging her back. Quickly recovering from the barrage, she parried another attack with her scythe and slashed at Ansem's right hand, knocking the pole-arm out of his grip. Not wasting a second, Ruby kicked him to ground and held the blade of her scythe to his throat. "Who's being tested now, Ansem?" She asked confidently, not expecting the laugh that came from him.

"Why you are, my dear." Ansem replied, before a massive black fist appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Ruby's face, sending her into a nearby tree trunk. The impact shattered the trunk and toppled over the tree, while leaving Ruby temporarily stunned. Using the distraction to his advantage, Ansem picked himself off of the ground, dusted himself off, and floated into the air while fully summoning his Dark Guardian.

Shaking off the stars in her vision, Ruby stood up and saw Ansem floating in midair with a dark creature floating behind him. Normally this would cause anyone else to panic, but she had seen plenty of crazy things in her life, so she just took it in stride and held her weapon at the ready. Dashing towards the two beings, Ruby delivered several slashes with her scythe, only for the Guardian to deflect them all and punch her again in the stomach, though this time she managed to stay on her feet. The Guardian then launched several blasts of dark energy, most of which hit their mark. Ruby's Aura was running low before long; she just couldn't keep up with the constant barrage of attacks from Ansem's Guardian.

"Now SUBMIT!" Ansem shouted, sending his Guardian forward. The creature flew towards the weakened Huntress too quickly for her to dodge, and she cried out in pain when it dissolved into her body. Ruby immediately felt her body moving against her will, forcing her to drop her weapon and fall to her knees. "I was planning on going easy on you," Ansem said as he glided towards the subjugated Huntress. "But it seems that the only way defeat you is to unleash everything I have to offer!" Summoning his pole-arm, he aimed one of the blades at Ruby's heart. "Perhaps if you had one last trick up your sleeve," Ansem continued darkly. "You might have actually lived through this."

Ruby started to chuckle at that, causing the Dark Seeker to pause. Forcing her to look at him, he noticed a smug look in her silver eyes. "Good," She said, still chuckling. "'Cause I still have one more thing to try."

"Oh? And what would that be?" Ansem asked, intrigued.

"Look to your right."

"What?" Ansem turned to his right just in time to get rammed in the stomach by Ruby's new superbike, Knife Edge. The impact rocked his world and caused his concentration to slip, causing his Guardian to exit Ruby's body as it recoiled in pain. Now free from Ansem's influence, Ruby picked her scythe off the ground and used the last of her Aura to activate her Gintama powers. Her eyes glowed white as raw energy surged through her body and into Qlockwork's blade. Turning around, she brought her scythe up in a powerful slash that cleaved the Guardian in two before it dissolved into nothing. Turning to face Ansem, she saw the man in black push her bike off of himself and glare angrily at her, before disappearing into another dark portal.

Deactivating her powers, Ruby slumped over and leaned on her scythe for support, trying to catch her breath. 'Whoever this Ansem guy is, he's really powerful.' She thought once she got her breath back. Walking over to her bike, she couldn't help but wonder what made Ansem so strong. One of her powers as a Gintama is the ability to see the Aura of all living things, and when she looked at Ansem, she was expecting to see some kind of taint on his soul like the ones that Salem leaves on her followers. But for some reason, she didn't see anything, even though he had all the signs of being one of her fanatics.

Unless...

Ruby froze when she realized the truth. She didn't see anything on his Aura. Nothing at all. Because his Aura didn't exist.

Ansem didn't have a soul.

 ** _To be continued..._**


	3. The Encounter pt 2

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Chapter 3**

 **The Encounter pt 2**

 **The City of Vale**

 **Sanus**

The capital of the kingdom of Vale was a bustling town with a variety of different cultures meshing together. Humans and Faunus meandered about the city streets, living their lives day by day. Thanks to the steep mountains to the east of the kingdom, as well as the shallow waters of the west coast, the creatures of Grimm had an extremely hard time entering the kingdom's borders. Combine that with the strong border defenses and a comfortable year round climate, and the people of Vale were allowed to grow complacent in their security. However, that complacency vanished after the Fall of Beacon.

After losing the school to the Grimm, many of the people of Vale chose to stop standing by, and started training to fight in preparation for the day the Grimm would leave the Academy campus and attack the town. Because of this, and in keeping with Vale's past warrior culture, the Vale Militia was formed to assist the Huntsmen in keeping the kingdom safe. Despite this new change of pace for the kingdom, the citizens felt even safer than ever, and many of them had smiles on their faces. This cautious happiness was readily felt in the air by the three new arrivals, who looked around at the tall buildings and bustling streets in awe.

"Wow," Kairi breathed, spinning around on her toes. "It's even more exciting than I thought! The tall buildings, the restaurants, the rustic but futuristic feel! It's like a futuristic Traverse Town!" The other two nodded in agreement, grinning at Kairi's excitement. "And this is just the first city we've been to," Sora replied, not quite as excited as Kairi, but still interested in what was waiting for them. "I mean, did you see Remnant from orbit? This world is huge! Who knows what we'll come across while we're here?"

"It's a pretty big world, all right," Riku said, looking around, "but let's not forget why we're here: to find Xehanort and drive him off of the world of Remnant." The others nodded in agreement, and the trio continued walking, asking for information about the head of Beacon. According to the world data given to them by Yen Sid, the person they needed to go to was in charge of running Beacon Academy: Professor Ozpin. However, the more the trio asked around, the more they realized that the world data was in need of an update.

"Ozpin died six years ago," Kairi sighed sadly. Apparently, the academy was attacked by the native creatures of darkness and no one has seen the old headmaster since. The new head of Beacon was a young woman named Ruby Rose, who was given the job after she led the charge to reclaim it from the Grimm. "Maybe we should tell Ruby about the problem," Sora suggested, "she's in charge of the school like Ozpin was, and I'm pretty sure she'll be happy to help us if it means saving her world."

"We don't even know who she is," Riku replied. "She might not even know about the Keyblade, let alone want to help us."

"Come on, Riku," Sora said, "we have to try at least. We don't have a lot of options right now."

"Sora's right," Kiari said. "If Xehanort's here, we need someone to help us out. And if she won't fight with us, at least she can show us the ropes of how this world works. Maybe we can find out what weapons they use here and grab some for ourselves."

Riku sighed. Kairi had a good point and he knew it, but the idea of roping in someone who may have no idea what's going on made him nervous. For all he knows, Ruby might think they're the enemy and attack them. "Alright," he said. "But if we're going to talk about this, can we at least do it over a meal? I haven't eaten since I entered the Dark Realm."

"Actually, I'm feeling pretty hungry too," Sora said, and Kairi nodded. "Didn't one of the guys we talked to say something about an all day breakfast restaurant?" She asked. "Sounds good to me," Riku replied, and together they headed over to the restaurant in question.

 **Somewhere nearby.**

Ruby rode through the streets of Vale on her bike, Knife Edge, trying to process what just happened to her. After returning to Beacon Academy, she had spoken to Glynda about the possibility of a man without a soul. Glynda dismissed it as impossible, but Ruby knew what she saw: Ansem was as empty as the creatures of Grimm. Afterwards, she decided to get some fresh air and ride her bike to clear her thoughts.

As Ruby weaved her way through the narrow streets, her mind kept going back to Salem's final words: _I have tormented this planet for as long as mankind existed, Ruby Rose. You will never be rid of the darkness I left in my wake, and you will never be rid of me._ Was she telling the truth? Was Ansem part of some posthumous revenge plot? Is it even possible to put her past behind her anymore? These questions and more raced through Ruby's mind as she finally reached her destination: _Iris's All Day Breakfast._

Huntresses need at least 2500 calories a day to function properly, and when Ruby uses her Gintama powers, her metabolism skyrockets. She may have only used her powers for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave her exhausted and starving, especially since she hadn't eaten anything today. This place has breakfast to die for, and she was a regular there.

Pulling up to the parking area, Ruby quickly found a spot and maneuvered her bike into it. People were gathering around to take photos of the bike before she even got off of it. That didn't surprise her: Knife Edge was definitely unique. At 15' long and 2.5' wide, it was very big for a bike. It had four wheels instead of the traditional two because it packed over five hundred horsepower, but it used electric motors powered by lightning Dust instead of the average internal combustion engine. The result is a large but sleek-looking bike that screams instead of roaring; Ruby actually thought about calling it the Banshee because of its characteristic shriek. It costed her a lot of money, but she believed it was worth every Lien.

Leaving her bike to the admirers, Ruby entered the restaurant and was greeted by the familiar smell of breakfast. Making her way to her usual table, she sat down and made herself comfortable while she waited to be served. She didn't have to wait long before one of the waitresses arrived and poured her a cup of coffee. "Welcome back Ms. Rose," the waitress said, smiling. She was very pretty, with long red hair and bright green eyes. Ruby already knew who she was; Garnet. She usually waited on Ruby, and might even have a bit of a crush on her. "Should I get you the usual?"

"Sure," Ruby replied, returning the smile.

"Alright, waffle with fried chicken, poached eggs and hollandaise." Garnet said while writing it down. She knew Ruby too well. "Oh and if you need any more coffee, just shout, sweetheart."

"Thanks," Ruby said, taking a sip from her mug. While she waited for her food, she found herself remembering what caused her to aspire to become Headmistress.

Before Haven Academy fell, Ruby found out that Leonardo Lionheart, it's Headmaster, was serving the Dark Queen herself. Lionheart used to be an audacious youth, who became the youngest Headmaster in history at a mere twenty five years old just to prove that he could do it. However, in his twilight years he became more timid and cowardly, eventually giving in to his fears and joining with Salem in order to stay alive. He had sacrificed his own school and the safety of his kingdom, just to add a few more years to his lifespan. By the time the heroes figured it out, it was too late to stop Cinder from stealing the Spring Maiden's powers and attacking Haven Academy alongside the White Fang, though they did prevent the school's destruction. After such a discovery, Ruby realized that she could have done much better than Lionheart, and as a result started thinking about becoming the next head of Beacon once they took it back from the Grimm.

Her thoughts turned into a resolve when her journey eventually led her to the kingdom of Atlas. By the time the heroes got there, general Ironwood had become mentally unstable and was ready to declare war at a moment's notice. He had already declared martial law in order to keep the masses in check, and he wouldn't listen to the heroes' warnings. When his own machines were turned against him, Ruby and the others were the ones who prevented Atlas Academy from falling by destroying the central network. As punishment for his actions backfiring, Ironwood was stripped of his position and replaced by Winter Schnee, Weiss's older sister. After realizing that two of Ozpin's trusted had betrayed him, Ruby decided that she _will_ become Headmistress to ensure Vale's safety, because she no longer trusted him to make the right decisions.

After returning to Vale and reclaiming Beacon from the Grimm, Ruby went to the Council and requested that she became the next head once Beacon was rebuilt. Glynda attempted to dissuade the Council by stating that Ruby was too young and inexperienced to be in charge of a school, but when the other kingdoms sent word of her exploits, the Council overruled Glynda's claims and agreed to Ruby's request, believing that she was more worthy of the title than anyone else.

The sound of a plate being set down in front of her distracted Ruby from her thoughts. Looking down, she saw her food was finally ready and Garnet was smiling at her. "There you go, Ms. Rose," she said, before looking behind her and leaning towards Ruby to whisper in her ear. "By the way, those three kids over there have been asking about you. They don't look like they mean any trouble, but I thought you'd like to know." She pointed to a table to the right of her that held three teenagers who seemed to be talking to each other about something. "Thanks for letting me know, Garnet." Ruby said, making a mental note to raise her tip.

As Ruby ate her breakfast, she listened in on the conversation that the trio was having. If they didn't mean any harm, she would apologize for eavesdropping later. The three of them looked young enough to enroll at the academy, with the oldest of them probably no more than eighteen. One of them had sapphire blue eyes and brown hair styled into spikes, and wore a short sleeve shirt, jacket, and a baggy pair of shorts. The oldest had shoulder length silver hair and fierce turquoise eyes, and wore a sleeveless yellow jacket and blue cargo pants. The girl had a similar eye color to the spikey haired boy, but had dark red hair cut in a bob style. She wore a white crop top under a short, pink dress.

"The more I hear about Ruby Rose, the more I think she might be able to help us," the spikey haired boy said. "I mean, anyone who works to reclaim a school from a bunch of monsters must be tough as nails."

"Then there's her sense of duty," the girl continued for him. "Apparently, she doesn't just stay in the academy. She still goes on missions when she has the time."

"Maybe you're right," the oldest boy mumbled, his mouth full of food. He must have been as hungry as Ruby was. "But I still think we should wait before telling her what kind of danger this world's in."

' _This world?_ ' Ruby thought, eyes widening. 'Are they being serious? And what danger? Were they talking about Ansem? What the heck is going on?!' Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she tuned back into the conversation, hoping to understand what they were talking about.

"What if we don't have time, Riku?" The girl asked the older boy. "For all we know, Xehanort might be preparing to send an army of Heartless and Nobodies to Remnant as we speak."

'Heartless? Nobodies? What are those, some kinds of monsters? And who's Xehanort?'

"Keep it down, Kairi," the spikey haired boy hissed at the girl. "But she has a point, Riku. We're on a time table, and we have no idea when the Organization's going to make it's move. We can't use either our magic or our Keyblades in public, so we need help with blending in and Ruby might be the only one who _can_ help us."

'Wait, they have magic too!? Okay that's it, I need to know everything I can about those three, _then_ I can confront them.' Ruby decided internally. Looking around to make sure no one was watching her, she focused her Aura into her eyes, causing them to glow dimly. This allowed her to read their souls and find out what their intentions were, as well as show her how powerful they really were. As soon as she focused on them, she was hit by an overwhelming sensation.

'By the Gods,' Ruby thought. 'These three are unbelievable! They're as powerful as I am, but it doesn't look like it's coming from their souls. Where's it coming from? Who are they?' Despite the overwhelming power flooding her senses, she could tell that the three of them had no ill intentions towards her. 'Good, because I don't think I can take all three of them in a fight. Let's see, if they really are telling the truth, and Remnant's people are really in danger, I definitely can't stand by and do nothing. Not to mention, these three are pretty young to be going around without supervision from a professional.'

Ruby grinned to herself, her eyes returning to normal. This might just be the adventure that she needs to liven up her life. Becoming Headmistress was a great honor, but it was a lot more boring than she thought it was going to be. She missed the rush she got from fighting a serious battle, and the Grimm weren't as threatening to her as they used to be. If these three needed help, then she was happy to give it to them.

Having made up her mind, Ruby finished her breakfast, left the appropriate amount of Lien on the table, (plus a tip, of course) and walked over to the table that the three teenagers were sitting. As she approached them, they noticed and looked up at her. "Hi," Ruby greeted them. "My name's Ruby Rose, and I hear you might need my help."

 **Evernight Palace Ruins**

 **Unknown part of Remnant**

Ansem stepped out of the dark corridor into the barren landscape surrounding the ruins of the Evernight Palace. Despite the area being nothing more than an empty husk, he could still feel the energy from the intense battle that took place between Ruby Rose and the dark being that lived here. Many Grimm were still here, frozen in place and unable to move. Despite his fascination with them, Ansem felt no sympathy towards these creatures, because Xehanort's heart had no sympathy to begin with. He only came here because it was easier for him to think when in places of darkness, and he had a lot to think about.

'Strange,' the Dark Seeker thought to himself. 'Ruby Rose wasn't using much in the way of raw power in that fight, but rather relied on her wits and strategic thinking to outsmart me. Despite this, she was still powerful enough to defeat my Guardian with one strike. I was holding back the entire battle, but something tells me that she was too.'

The more Ansem thought about her, the more intrigued he became. While he felt an overwhelming presence of light coming from the girl, her heart told a different story. Ruby's heart was seemingly flooded with darkness, but her soul was brimming with light, and it felt like the two parts of her were locked in combat with each other. There had to be a reason why her heart and soul were so out of sync with each other, and Ansem thought he knew why. 'It's not her heart,' Ansem realized. 'I don't know how, but for some reason Ruby Rose ended up with a heart that isn't her own, and it's fighting for control of her body.' Upon realizing this, his grin returned to his face and he began to formulate a plan. 'Perhaps the Organization can gain an ally from her. All we have to do is find a way to wake up the darkness in her heart, and put the light in her soul to sleep.' Opening another Corridor of Darkness, Ansem left the barren wasteland to find his other.

 ** _To be continued…_**


	4. Cold and Unfeeling

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Cold and Unfeeling**

 **Aura Research Facility**

 **The Kingdom of Atlas, Solitas**

The frozen tundra of Solitas is an almost inhospitable wasteland of ice and snow, where temperatures regularly reach -20 degrees Fahrenheit. In the winter, it gets so cold that the creatures of Grimm freeze solid and cease to be a threat, at least until the first thaw. The harsh conditions also forced the settlers to adapt more quickly, eventually making the kingdom of Atlas the most technologically advanced in the world of Remnant. The scientists there have not only researched how to use Dust as efficiently as possible, but also studied the workings of Aura, the manifestation of an individual's soul. It was for this very reason why Xemnas was in this particular facility: to understand the nature of the soul and its connection to the heart.

'Interesting,' the Nobody thought as he scanned his eyes through one of the research documents. 'The people of Remnant have managed to learn how to transfer the consciousness of an individual into another medium, and said medium does not have to be living or even organic, as long as it can contain the energy that the soul possesses.'

Placing the document back in the filing cabinet, Xemnas wandered through the facility until he came across a large vault door. Focusing on his power over nothingness, he made himself intangible and walked through the thick steel door. He found himself in another facility, this one filled with much more advanced technology than the previous one, as well as several security cameras. Disabling each one with a small Ethereal Beam, he then made his way to the filing cabinets against the left hand wall. As he ran his eyes over the labels of each drawer, one eventually caught his attention.

 _The Seasonal Maidens._

Intrigued, Xemnas opened the drawer and ran a finger through the many files, choosing one about the history of the Maidens. Taking it out of the drawer and opening it, he started reading through the many pages inside. A few minutes later, he reached for another file and read through it, then another, then another. The more he read, the more intrigued he became. 'So, these Maidens possess what the people of Remnant call genuine magic,' the Nobody thought. 'And when one of these four Maidens dies, her soul is transferred into a young woman who was in her thoughts last.'

If Xemnas could feel anything, it would have been elation. This facility was a gold mine of information that gave him a grand understanding of the human soul, as well as the connection between it and the heart. 'The soul can be transferred to another host body, but it eventually melds with the host soul. Is there a way for the donor to gain dominance over the host?' Placing the files back in the cabinet, (with the exception of one, which he slipped into his coat) the Nobody of Xehanort looked around for anything else that might be of importance to his own research. Eventually, his yellow eyes landed on another cabinet with a label that held a unique name.

 _Gintama._

'Gintama?' Xemnas asked himself. He knew the name translated to Silver Soul, and that alone piqued his interest. Walking over to the cabinet, he opened it and ran his fingers over the few files that were in there, eventually landing on the largest one: the one labeled _Ruby Rose_. Opening the file, he started reading the first page of what appeared to be a journal entry from the scientist who performed the research.

 _Science can be described as the process of learning and understanding the nature of the unknown. True scientists have an insatiable hunger for knowledge, and are willing to go to great lengths to gain that knowledge. Any experiment that yields data is a viable experiment, and the methods of attaining it do not matter. However, there are also times when restraint is necessary during an experiment, even if it does hamper progress. I relearned the value of restraint when I was approached by a young Huntress by the name of Ruby Rose, who asked for my assistance in calming her nerves. Ms. Rose is a most unique case: not only is she the most powerful and possibly the last of the Gintama people, but she is also inhabiting a body that is not her own. When she explained her situation to me, I understood her completely: she was afraid that the host Aura was not gone forever, and would return to reclaim dominance. The scientist in me was dying to learn and understand everything that the young Huntress was, but I knew I had to restrain myself in order to prevent myself from harming her body and soul. After much internal debate, I believe I have found the best way to get the answers we are both looking for without causing harm to her. Time will tell if she agrees with my method, and whether we get the right answers or not, but I will save that for a future entry._

'So it _is_ possible,' Xemnas thought, placing the file in his coat for further research. He was about to search for more information when an alarm sounded throughout the facility. Turning towards the vault door, he realized that he missed one of the cameras. Quickly destroying it, he ran to the door and removed his hood, pressing an ear to the thick metal to listen for voices.

"What the hell is going on!?" One voice shouted.

"Someone's still in there!" Another said. "We don't know how he got in, but he hasn't left yet!"

"Well, what are you waiting for!?" A third practically screamed. "Get that vault open NOW!"

Knowing that he had been found out, Xemnas pulled his hood back over his head to hide his face and concentrated on his powers, preparing for a battle. The door was too thick for him to sense anything, so he logically assumed that the people on the other side were at least reasonably powerful. Hands crackling with energy, Xemnas made himself intangible again and surged forward, intending to get the drop on whoever was waiting for him.

 **Schnee Manor Study.**

 **Thirty minutes earlier.**

"Look, I don't care how much it costs, just start improving the conditions in that stinking mine before I find someone else to do it!" Weiss Schnee yelled over the scroll, before hanging up and putting her face in her hands. Today had been particularly stressful for the young owner of the Schnee Dust Company: three different Dust mines still had hazardous working conditions and wouldn't pay the labor forces on time, forcing her to call their overseers and convince them to bring everything up to her standards. 'Undoing what my father did to the company is a lot harder than I thought,' Weiss thought to herself. Reaching for the mug of coffee on her desk, her mind went to all the hardships that she had already been through.

After Weiss had reunited with her friends, she decided to help them save the academies from Salem while also trying to find a way to reclaim her title as Schnee Company heiress. As she continued to make a name for herself as a responsible warrior, she was constantly being hunted by the White Fang, Salem's forces, and even her own father. At first, her father was hiring people to capture her and bring her home, so he could lock her up and "recondition" her. However, as time went on the mercenaries he hired were given orders to kill her and make it look like the White Fang did it. The heroes fought them all off and gathered evidence for Weiss to use against her father, but when they made it to Atlas, they found another unexpected roadblock: Weiss's younger brother, Whitley.

When Jacques Schnee took Weiss's title as heiress away from her, he passed it down to Whitley, who was just as cunning as he was. Whitley knew that if they ousted his father, he would lose his title as heir of the company, and therefore decided to hamper their progress in any way he could. In the end, he started up a false relationship with Ruby in order to turn her against Weiss. Normally, something like that wouldn't have worked, but Ruby was in a vulnerable spot at the time due to her on again/off again relationship with the newest addition to the group: Oscar Pine. Whitley lured her in with promises of a long lasting relationship, and Ruby took the bait hook, line and sinker. It wasn't until after the Battle of Atlas that Ruby found out that Whitley was only using her, and when she did, Weiss was there to see her give him the the most brutal left cross she'd ever seen. In the end, they were able to oust Jacques for everything he did, and Weiss was able to reclaim her title and inherit the company she was born to lead.

A knock on the door startled Weiss from her thoughts. "Come in," she called, expecting it to be her butler, Klein. When the door opened, however, she was greeted by unexpected sight. "Winter!" She exclaimed happily. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my home as well, Weiss." Winter replied smugly, limping over to one of the chairs. She was badly injured in the Battle of Atlas, and still had trouble with her left leg. "Besides," she continued, "I figured I would check up on my younger sister and see how she was doing."

"Well, I had to threaten the jobs of three Dust mine overseers, and now I have to arrange for an inspection of each one, as well as ensure that the workers all get hazard pay," Weiss said, causing Winter to wince slightly. "So all in all, I've been under a lot of stress lately. Still, the Reunion's only two weeks away, so I think I can manage. What about you? How are things going at Atlas Academy?"

"Surprisingly well," Winter said, leaning back in her chair. "The Council seems to approve of the psyche exam, and we have plenty of potential students for the coming school year. I have to admit, Ruby knew what she was doing when she came up with the exam."

When Ruby became Headmistress, the other heads (Winter Schnee, Leonodis Lionheart, and Sakura Kageyoshi) traveled to Beacon to congratulate her and discuss what she had planned for the future. While they were all surprised when she said she wouldn't be joining the Guardians of Remnant, they accepted her choice and didn't push it further. The other two heads weren't particularly fond of the psyche exam, (Leonodis didn't think it would make any difference, and Sakura always did her own thing) but Winter thought it was a good idea and decided to implement it herself.

"Speaking of Ruby, you saw her a couple months ago, right?" Weiss asked. "How was she doing? Why didn't she come see me?"

"Calm down, Weiss," Winter said. "She was only here for another of her sessions. She thought you were too busy so she decided to leave you alone." Weiss sighed at that. Ever since Ruby came back using Cinder's body, she had been paranoid about the possibility of the false Maiden coming back and regaining control of her body. Not long before she became Headmistress, Ruby asked Winter if there was anyone who might be able to help her know for sure, and Winter recommended her to a scientist who had extensive knowledge on the workings of Aura. Every couple of months, Ruby travels to Atlas so the scientist can scan her Aura for any significant changes, changes that might signify Cinder's return.

Weiss knew about the hardships her former team leader went through, but deep down she couldn't help but feel jealous of how powerful Ruby was. When she wasn't running her company, Weiss was often training herself to try and surpass her in at least one category.

A ringing scroll distracted the sisters from their conversation. Checking her pockets, Winter pulled out her scroll and answered. "General Schnee. Report." A few seconds passed before she shouted her reply. "WHAT!? How!? Ugh, never mind, just lock the damn place down and wait for me!"

"What's wrong, Winter?" Weiss asked, concerned.

"There's a break in at the Aura research facility, and someone managed to get into the Vault." Winter replied. Weiss's eyes widened: the Vault contained experimental technology that was too dangerous for anyone to use, as well as hard copies of every unique case of Aura research. Anyone who gets in there has access to secrets that could reshape the way people see the world.

Almost immediately, Weiss jumped out of her desk chair, ran to a cabinet on her left and opened it to reveal her combat outfit and her rapier: Myrtenaster. Grabbing both, she turned to her sister, who was looking at her oddly. "My ship's faster. Let's go." She said, and the tone in her voice told Winter the rest. _I'm coming with you. It's not up for debate._

Winter simply nodded her head, and the two sisters quickly exited the mansion and entered Weiss's personal airship: the _Schneesturm_. As Winter manned the controls in the cockpit, Weiss stepped into the lavatory and quickly changed into her combat attire. She had taken to wearing a short, light blue dress with a white titanium breastplate, a blue coat with two long tails at the back, a pair of heavy boots with platform heals and greaves reaching up to her knees, and a gauntlet on her right arm with a detachable buckler.

"You know that this isn't your fight, sister." Winter said over the intercom as Weiss got dressed. "I think you have enough on your hands as is."

"I know that, Winter," Weiss said as she latched the waist buckle that held her coat in place. "But this is important. If whoever's in there escapes with anything, it could spell bad news for the people of Remnant, so I'm not taking any chances."

"Weiss, I'm sure I can handle them," Winter insisted.

"Not with your leg," Weiss shot back, and she knew from the silence that she accidentally touched a nerve. Winter had started feeling like an invalid after her injury cost most of the cartilage in her leg, and while she was scheduled for surgery to replace the ruined joints, she felt useless for the time being. "I'm sorry Winter, I just needed to get out of that study. I fell asleep on that stupid desk ten times in a row! I've always been more comfortable on the battlefield than in an office, so this is a way to relieve my stress."

"I suppose that makes sense," Winter replied, still sounding slightly hurt. Weiss knew she was going to have to make it up for her sister, but that was for another time. "We're here, Weiss."

"Alright," Weiss replied, making sure her gauntlet was secured onto her arm. Grabbing Myrtenaster, she checked the chambers to make sure they were loaded, folded her business suit and placed it on the counter, and ran out of the airship with Winter close behind. As they approached the facility, two soldiers stood at attention and saluted, letting them pass. Making their way through the hallways of the complex, they eventually reached the Vault, which was surrounded by two dozen Atlesian Knights and two soldiers.

"What the hell is going on!?" Winter shouted.

"Someone's still in there!" One of the soldiers said, not taking his eyes off of the Vault door. "We don't know how he got in, but he hasn't left yet!"

"Well, what are you waiting for!?" Weiss shouted angrily. "Get that Vault open NOW!"

"Understood!" The other soldier said, moving towards the door controls. He didn't make it very far. A man clad in a black hooded coat somehow phased through the enormous steel door and delivered a punishing body blow to the shocked soldier, sending him flying into the wall on the opposite side. The Knights reacted immediately, firing on the man, who formed an energy barrier in front of himself to stop the bullets. Weiss felt strange as she looked at the barrier. It was as if it was there, but at the same time wasn't. He then stepped back and raised his hand, which was crackling with power, and fired a series of glowing red projectiles which destroyed seven of the robotic soldiers. The man then cloaked himself in darkness and moved behind most of the other Knights releasing two energy bombs that destroyed another ten.

'Five seconds in and we've already lost more than half of our forces.' Weiss thought as the man moved again, this time sprouting a pair of glowing red blades which he swung at the Knights, destroying the remaining seven in one long combo. The remaining soldier, however, managed to get behind him and whacked him as hard as he could with the butt of his rifle. The man stood still for a second like nothing happened, then spun around, grabbed the soldier by the throat with his left hand, and sprouted another energy blade from his right before running it through his body, killing the soldier.

"No!" Winter shouted angrily, surging towards the man in black and swinging her swords violently. The man sidestepped her first attack, parried the second, and retaliated with a swing from his own blade. The attack hit Winter in the stomach, knocking the General back several feet. Undeterred, she formed a glyph under her feet and launched herself forward again, aiming her saber at the man's hidden face. He saw this coming and blocked her attack, pushing towards her and forcing her weight onto her bum leg. Winter gritted her teeth as she struggled to stay standing, only for the man to break the lock and sweep her legs out from under her. With Winter now vulnerable, the man in black unleashed a brutal combo of slashes and kicks, ending with a powerful swing of his energy blades that sent her crashing into the Vault door, using up the last of her Aura. Struggling to get to her knees, Winter froze when she saw one of the man's blades next to her head, ready to cut it off. Looking up, she could finally see some of his face, making out yellow eyes. Rearing his blade back, the man in black brought it down to finish her off…

Only for Weiss to block the blade with her buckler and push Winter out of the way. Sensing his next attack, she ducked under the other blade, spun around to face him, wrapped her left arm around his right, and let him have her buckler full in the face. The impact forced the man back several feet, and also caused the hood to slip off his head. Weiss saw that the man had unkempt silver hair, (but he wasn't old) lightly tanned skin and yellow eyes that appeared completely hollow and devoid of emotion. "What are you doing here!?" She shouted, glaring at the man. "What do you want?"

The man grinned, but his eyes remained hollow. "The human soul," he said in a deep, monotone voice. "What else could be so essential to life itself, yet still be so unknown to us? I simply wish to understand the nature of the soul, in order to implement it in any way I see fit. This facility promised to give me this understanding, but now you stand to hamper my progress. I'm afraid I can't allow that to happen."

"You're joking, right?" Weiss asked, exasperated. "Do you have any idea who I am? And even if you didn't, and you actually manage to beat me, there's an army of soldiers on it's way here. Even you can't take down the entire military!"

"I don't intend to," the man in black said calmly, subtly charging an energy attack behind his back.

'Damn,' Weiss thought to herself. 'What does it take to phase this guy?' Her eyes widened when she saw him thrust his arm out towards her, firing crackling bolts of energy at her that she managed to block with her buckler. The force of the attack pushed Weiss back a couple of feet, but she held her ground and redirected the blast right back at him. The man quickly jumped out of the way as the energy bolt struck the wall behind him, tearing a large chunk out of the concrete.

"Impressive," the man said. "You seem much more competent than the others. Allow me to test your strength." His hands started crackling with that strange energy again as he stared Weiss down.

"Fine," Weiss said, returning the stare. "But before we fight, let's get the formalities out of the way. My name is Weiss Schnee, I am the owner of the Schnee Dust Company and one of the Eight Heroes of Remnant."

The man in black gave a hollow grin. "And I am Xemnas of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness." He said, bowing mockingly.

Weiss's ice blue eyes narrowed, and she assumed her fighting stance: placing her left foot forward, her rapier pointed at Xemnas with her arm slightly bent, and her right hand at chin level with two fingers pointing at her opponent. "On your guard, Xemnas," she growled, before launching herself at him, rapier aimed at his throat. Xemnas sidestepped to his left and sprouted a blade from his left hand, swinging it at her head only for Weiss to block it with her buckler. He then tried to stab her through the heart with his right hand blade, but she twisted her body so that it just barely grazed her breastplate, retaliating with another thrust of her sword to his shoulder. Bringing up his left hand, Xemnas caught the blade between two fingers and push-kicked Weiss away from him, firing several red bolts from his right hand at the same time. Weiss immediately recovered and used a series of glyphs to dodge the projectiles, launching several ice crystals at Xemnas. Erecting a barrier to stop the crystals, the Nobody surged forward to unleash another combo attack. Unlike Winter however, Weiss was prepared and deflected each and every strike with her sword and buckler, even using her greaves to parry some of his attacks.

Before long, Weiss began to see a pattern in Xemnas's fighting style. His methods involved him throwing his whole weight into each swing of his blades, and attempted to wear his opponent down with long combos, only using his barrier and energy bolts to keep them on their toes. But every time he uses one of his combos, he left himself vulnerable for a split second.

That was all the time Weiss needed. After Xemnas engaged a combo for the umpteenth time, Weiss stayed in range, tanking the attacks she couldn't dodge, and parrying what she couldn't tank. Eventually the combo ended, and Xemnas left an opening that Weiss exploited to the fullest. Dashing forward, the Ice Queen threw her knee into Xemnas's solar plexus before slamming her buckler into his face, stunning him. Pulling the trigger on Myrtenaster, a large amount of ice Dust was released onto the blade before being activated by Weiss's Aura, forming a larger broadsword blade out of ice. At the same time, Weiss focused her Aura into her semblance, forming a time dilation glyph under her. Now ready, Weiss surged forward much faster than normal and delivered a series of two handed strikes to Xemnas's body, launching him into the air and breaking the ice blade on her sword. Focusing what was left of her Aura into one final attack, Weiss summoned her Armored Giant, which brought its massive sword down on Xemnas, flattening him into the ground.

Dismissing her summon, Weiss leaned on her sword panting for breath. This was the first fight in a long time that wore her out that much, and while she continued training herself, endurance was never her strong point. A movement caught her attention: Xemnas survived the attack and picked himself up, brushing the dust off of his coat. "Most impressive, Ms. Schnee," the Nobody said, seemingly unruffled by the fact that he had been beaten. "It seems that this world is well protected."

" _This world?_ " Weiss asked, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"It is beyond your comprehension for now," Xemnas answered. "In any case, I have what I came here for. Until next time, 'Hero of Remnant.'"

"Wait!" Weiss shouted. But it was too late: Xemnas had already disappeared through a black and purple portal, leaving no trace. Weiss had a lot of questions on her mind, but first she had other matters to attend to. "Winter!" She called. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Weiss," Winter answered, massaging her left leg gingerly. "You were right, sister," she sighed. "I'm not ready to fight someone like him quite yet. If you hadn't come with me, I would have been killed."

"It's alright, Winter." Weiss comforted her sister. "Once you have your hip and knee joints replaced, you'll be as good as new."

Winter smiled at her younger sister, then noticed that one of her soldiers was getting up off the ground. "Soldier," she said. "Get the Vault open. We need to see if that man stole anything."

"Yes ma'am!" The soldier replied, limping up to the keypad and punching in the correct combination. After a series of clicks and whirls, the massive steel door swung open, and the sisters ran inside to check the contents. At first glance, Winter could tell that the technology was untouched, so she instead ran to the filing cabinets, with Weiss doing the same. Weiss knew that the files on all recorded Gintama, including Ruby were stored here, so she searched for the cabinet that held them. Finding it she ran over and opened it, praying to whatever deity was listening that the contents were untouched.

Her prayers went unanswered when she looked inside. She saw files with several names she didn't recognize, but even after triple checking, she couldn't find the one on her leader and closest friend. Her face turned white as she realized: Xemnas stole the files on Ruby, which means he now knew everything that there was to know about her.

For all Weiss knew, Ruby could be Xemnas's next target.

 ** _To be continued..._**


	5. Welcome to Beacon

**_Remnant's White Light_**

 **Chapter 4**

 **Welcome to Beacon**

 **Courtyard Entrance,** **Beacon Academy**

"Whoa," the three Keyblade wielders gasped as they looked up at the enormous campus of Beacon Academy. The school had only gotten bigger when it was rebuilt, with new wings in place to house more students and improved training grounds. The school year hadn't begun yet so the Academy was mostly deserted, but there was still a sensation of activity that told the trio that this place was normally filled with young men and women eager to prove themselves.

"This is a school!?" Sora exclaimed. "It looks more like a castle! Just what do they teach here?"

"You're not kidding," Riku said, trying to act less impressed than he was. "It's a little too over the top for a school, if you ask me. I mean, isn't it weird that you need an airship to get here?"

"It's just a safety measure, in case of an attack," they heard to their right. Turning around, they saw Ruby Rose walking towards them, smiling kindly. "This place used to hold an artifact so powerful, it could influence the decisions a large group of people made. Something like that shouldn't just be left lying about, so Beacon Academy was built around it to act like a fortress. The main tower is also what's left of the Vale Royal Palace, so there's that too. Want me to show you guys around?"

"Yeah!" Sora and Kairi said at the same time. Riku rolled his eyes and just shrugged. "Great, follow me." Ruby replied, leading the way. The trio quickly followed suit, admiring the incredible architecture and beautiful flora of the courtyard. As they approached the center, they noticed a large bronze statue of what appeared to be a young woman, no older than Riku. The woman was clad in an armored corset and leggings, and wore a circlet on her head while wielding a spear and shield in a defiant posture, eyes facing the horizon. At the base of the statue was a brass plaque that held the woman's name: _Pyrrha Nikos._

"Who was Pyrrha?" Sora asked, and Ruby lowered her head slightly. "She was a friend," she replied softly. "She died when Beacon fell six years ago. I had that statue placed here so people always remember who she was."

"We can live forever in people's memories," Kairi said quietly, remembering Lea's favorite philosophy. "Yeah," Ruby said solemnly, then her smile returned and she started walking again. "Anyway, enough with the doom and gloom stuff, let's get back to the tour!"

Ruby took them around the main campus, showing them the dorm setup the students have, the locker rooms and how the lockers were rocket propelled, (enjoying the looks of shock on the young trio's faces) and showed the new combat grounds where students could spar in relative safety. All the while Sora and Kairi looked on in amazement, but Riku kept his eyes on Ruby. Something about her felt off to the young Keyblade master, but he just couldn't tell what it was. It was almost like she was fighting an internal battle with herself, but he didn't understand why.

"Excuse me, Headmistress Rose," Kairi said, causing Ruby to flinch slightly. "Please... just call me Ruby," Ruby said, turning around to show that she was visibly uncomfortable. "I'm too young to be called Headmistress."

"Oh, sorry," Kairi said, wincing apologetically. "Anyway, if you don't mind me asking, how did you become the head of Beacon?"

Ruby smiled at her, before she turned around and continued walking. "Well, that's a long story, but if you really want to hear it I'll tell you." Before Kairi could respond, however, Ruby then raised a finger. "One condition, though," she continued. "You guys need to tell me your story, too. This is probably the only time I'll ever get to meet someone from another world, so I wanna know as much as possible before you guys leave." The three Keyblade wielders shared a look with each other, before nodding and turning back to Ruby. "Ruby," Sora said. "You've got a deal."

"Awesome," Ruby said, grinning ear to ear. "Well, I think I showed you just about everything, so let's head up to my office and get down to the nitty gritty." Turning around, she started walking towards the tower at the center of the academy. "Of course it's in the tower," Sora grumbled to himself, causing Ruby to look back at him oddly. "Our master lives in a large tower," Kairi explained. "I think we're all tired of climbing the stairs to get to his loft."

"Oh, well don't worry," Ruby replied. "My office might be at the top, but I use an elevator to get up there." With that said, the young Headmistress continued to head to Beacon Tower, followed by the trio of Keyblade wielders.

 **Patch Island**

Patch was a small island off the coast of Vale. Mostly cut off from the mainland and surrounded by shallow waters, it served as a refuge for those who wanted to live in the safety of the kingdom, but didn't want to be wrapped up in the problems of the main city. However, Cinder Fall's attack on the Xiao Long household has left the residents of the island worried that something else might happen to them. As a result, the island's combat school, Signal Academy, was further improved in order to better teach the students how to defend themselves and their fellow islanders. This plight was not lost on the young man who was looking out towards the mainland from the eastern beach, but he simply didn't care.

"What a tiny island," the young man said to himself. "I guess greatness really does come from small beginnings. Perhaps Ruby and I aren't so different after all." He chuckled to himself, knowing his future and the greatness that follows. The young man was Xehanort, but from a distant past. Having been given the power over time by his future Heartless, he then used it to gather twelve incarnations of himself throughout time in order to form the new, true Organization XIII. Since then he has gained an insatiable thirst for adventure, and would occasionally drift away to explore other worlds on his own.

This curiosity is what brought Xehanort to Patch. While searching for strong souls to capture for study, he heard people talking about eight young men and women who became the greatest heroes in Remnant's history. Interested, he asked others about these heroes and learned that their leader, now the Headmistress of Beacon Academy, was born and raised with her sister on a small island off the coast of Vale. Upon arriving at Patch, Xehanort asked around and learned more about the story of Ruby Rose.

He learned that she was the daughter of Taiyang Xiao Long, a teacher at Signal Academy, and one of the best Huntresses to graduate from Beacon: Summer Rose. After the Fall of Beacon, Ruby left Patch Island at the age of sixteen and traveled the world in order to grow stronger, as well as track down those responsible for destroying her school. Apparently, not long after she returned and reclaimed the academy from the Grimm, she was captured by the same people that she had chased all over the world. But in the end, Ruby Rose returned with news that the monsters responsible for Remnant's chaos had finally been defeated, and she was rewarded for her services by being made the new head of Beacon.

"From island girl to worldwide legend," Xehanort muttered. "I suppose I should be thankful that you can't wield the Keyblade. If you did, I might have been genuinely afraid of you."

"Don't give her too much credit, Xehanort," a familiar voice said from behind him. Turning around, Xehanort saw Ansem emerge from a Corridor of Darkness and approach his past self. "She may have accomplished a few feats in her short life," Ansem continued. "But she's no threat to the likes of us. Still, she has an interesting set of circumstances that may prove useful to our cause."

"Is that so?" Xehanort asked. "And what circumstances are those?"

"Her heart," Ansem replied. "I'm not certain how it happened, but Ruby possesses a heart that isn't her's, and it is fighting her soul for control of her body. What's more, her heart is brimming with darkness that can only come from malicious intent. If we were to awaken this darkness and put the light in her soul to sleep, we could gain a very valuable ally from her."

"A heart that isn't her own?" Xehanort asked. "I thought it was impossible to transfer a heart to another body without a Keyblade. How did something like this happen?"

"I believe that I have the answer," another voice said. Turning to the right, they saw Xemnas arrive through another Corridor. "The people of Remnant have made significant strides in understanding the nature of the human soul," he continued. "And it seems that they have even learned how to capture, and then transfer it into another vessel, to the point where a single human being can have as many as six souls at once." Xehanort and Ansem were both surprised by this, though they refused to show it.

"A human being with six souls," Xehanort muttered. "This world is just one surprise after another. But how does this relate to Ruby?"

 **Headmaster's office**

 **Beacon Tower**

"So Ansem already showed up and attacked you?" Sora asked.

"Yep," Ruby replied.

"And you fought him off?" Kairi continued.

"Uh-huh,"

"Without a Keyblade?" Riku clarified.

"Nope,"

The trio looked at each other, before turning back to look at Ruby. "Yeah, I don't believe you." Riku admitted.

"Hey!"

"I'm sorry, but without a Keyblade it's impossible to beat someone like Ansem." Riku said.

"Okay, let me clarify," Ruby replied. "I'm pretty sure Ansem was only testing me. It felt like he was holding back, so I tried to do the same. I didn't want to cause too much of a scene— a no-holds-barred battle between me and someone equal to me would have destroyed the Emerald Forest. I have to limit myself if I'm anywhere near civilization, or I'll cause a panic."

"Riiiiiiight," Riku said sarcastically, earning a frustrated glare from Ruby. "Give it a rest, Riku," Sora said. "Sorry Ruby, he can be a real jerk sometimes."

"It's alright, I've put up with worse before." Ruby said, before the entrance buzzer sounded. "Come in," she said, and the elevator door opened to reveal the stern, no-nonsense Glynda Goodwitch, who was clearly not in her best mood. "Oh, great. Here we go again." Ruby grumbled under her breath as Glynda approached her desk.

"Remind me when it became acceptable to allow just anyone into Beacon Academy before the school year even starts." Glynda said, clearly annoyed. "Look Glynda, I can explain," Ruby replied, sounding more than a little desperate. "You see, these three teenagers say that they wield what's called the Keyblade, and-"

"WHAT!?" Glynda exclaimed, shocked. Spinning on her heels, she stared at the trio and while Kairi shied away, Sora and Riku glared back at her. "You're Keyblade wielders?" She asked quietly.

"We are," Sora replied, summoning his Kingdom Key. Glynda blinked once, twice, then she turned back to Ruby and glared at her. "Well, it looks like you got us into a seriously bad situation, Ruby." She said, back to her stern self.

"Hey, Ansem was the one who showed up and attacked me!" Ruby shouted, standing up from her chair angrily. "And he was holding back, too! If he shows up again, I want to be ready for him, and that means we need help! I already scanned their Auras, and they aren't here to harm us, so unless you have a VERY good reason to be angry at me, shut up and trust me!"

Glynda was taken aback by Ruby's outburst— normally their arguments were very tame. It was clear that the threat Ansem posed scared the young Headmistress. "Hold on," Sora interjected. "What do you mean you 'scanned our Auras?'"

"It's a trick I have as a Gintama," Ruby explained, having calmed down. "I can read the Aura of a living being and learn what their intentions are. It's not my only power, but it's the one that I use the most."

"But wait," Kairi said. "What's an Aura?"

Ruby and Glynda looked at each other, the looks on their faces a mixture of understanding and exasperation. "Just how much do you know about Remnant?" Glynda asked. "Not much, really," Sora admitted. "We were hoping Ruby could fill us in."

Glynda glanced at Ruby, who had a pleading look in her shining silver eyes, and grinned. "Well, she _is_ a teacher," she said, and Ruby's eyes widened. "I think she can fill you in on what you need to know. I'll leave you to it, Ms. Rose." Glynda then entered the elevator and pressed the ground floor button, still grinning at Ruby as the doors closed.

Ruby slumped into her chair and rubbed her temples. "See what I mean about putting up with worse?" She asked the trio, who nodded in agreement. "Anyway, let's get down to it: tell me what you know about the world of Remnant."

 **Patch Island**

"Cinder Fall," Xehanort muttered, reading through the files on Ruby that Xemnas brought with him. "So if we awaken the darkness in her heart, Cinder might be able to regain control of her body."

"It might be possible," Xemnas agreed. "And in the process, we might learn more about the connection between the heart and soul. If Cinder's heart can overpower Ruby's soul, then we may have nothing to worry about with the other vessels that hold Master Xehanort's heart."

"But if Ruby can fight back and win, we may have to consider finding a way to generate copies of his soul and transfer it into the vessels to ensure their assimilation." Ansem continued, a sadistic grin on his face.

"Either way, Ruby Rose serves as the perfect specimen to learn what we came here to learn." Xehanort finished, closing the files. "We will draw her out and begin the experiment, but first we need bait. Any suggestions?"

A rare grin crossed Xemnas's face. "I believe I may have an idea."

 ** _To be continued…_**


	6. Dark Fangs

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Dark Fangs**

 **Menagerie docks.**

The island of Menagerie is home to around seventy percent of the Faunus race, living there to escape from both human discrimination and the problems of the kingdoms. The crowded nature of the island meant that the population was a close-knit community, and they worked together through thick and thin. However, the events of the past six years had changed the way the Faunus thought. The attempted assassination of the Chieftain of Menagerie, followed by the White Fang's invasion rekindled their fighting spirit, and the people of Menagerie drove the extremists off of the island. Now ready to fight for the right reasons, many of the island's Faunus eventually joined together to create a new White Fang, rechristening the remnants of the old organization the Red Fang after Ghira Belladonna claimed that the group had been "stained red." When Ghira was asked to lead the new White Fang however, he refused, instead passing the mantle of High Leader down to his daughter and one of the Eight Heroes of Remnant, Blake.

And Blake was the reason Xehanort arrived at the crowded island in the first place.

"Another islander turned legend," Xehanort muttered. "I'm starting to sense a theme here." He had changed out of the black coat he wore as a member of Organization XIII, and was now wearing a sleeveless black hooded duster over a gray undershirt, baggy dark gray pants tucked into a pair of knee-high boots, and a pair of fingerless black gloves. The hilts of his Ethereal Blades were holstered on his belt.

"How did they manage to make such a large island feel so small?" He grumbled irritably after bumping into someone else for the umpteenth time. He already knew that he was going to be the one to collect the bait that will lure Ruby into their trap— he didn't have the same experience as his future selves— but he was expecting to collect her sister, Yang. Instead they summoned and sent Saïx to capture her, and Xehanort was left to find and retrieve Blake while Ansem and Xemnas formulated the plan to awaken Ruby's darkness. Needless to say, he wasn't fond of the idea of heading to yet another island, and this one was actually worse than the Destiny Islands due to it's crowded population.

Knowing that complaining wouldn't help, Xehanort instead focused on learning about his target. Playing the part of a curious traveler, he asked around for information: exploits, enemies, history, etc. What he took away from what he learned was that Blake Belladonna was one of, if not the weakest of the Eight Heroes physically, but could think on her feet and use everything around her as tools to give herself the upper hand in a fight. What truly caught his attention, though, was that two weeks from now, she will be heading to the kingdom of Vale for a Reunion with the other Heroes.

"That may be helpful to remember," he said to himself. Satisfied with the information he collected, Xehanort left the docks and headed towards the White Fang's current headquarters, located in the village of Kuokuana. "You had better be ready, Blake Belladonna, because I didn't come to this overcrowded prison of an island to be disappointed."

 **White Fang Headquarters.**

 **Kuokuana.**

"How is the progress in the Dust mines?" Blake asked Illia Amitola, one of her Atlas representatives.

"Currently, there are three mines in Mantle owned by the Schnee Dust Company that have yet to change the working conditions." Illia said, keeping to Blake's right. "I recorded the information and presented it to Ms. Schnee, and she seemed furious. She thanked me for finding the information, and was yelling at the manager of one of the mines before I even left her study."

Blake smiled at that; she knew Weiss well enough to know that she would ensure the safety of her workers. "Thanks, Illia," she said. "What about the Red Fang? Are they still a problem?"

"Not as much as they were," Illia replied. "We're still searching for their base, but Solitas's climate is getting in our way; we're just not cut out for long treks in those temperatures." She then leaned forward and Blake also leaned in, knowing Illia had more to say. "But I did learn something, Blake." Illia whispered into Blake's right cat ear- her left ear was sliced off during a fight against Cinder, and she still has trouble hearing out of it. "The Red Fang is gathering itself for one final attempt to control Menagerie, and I think they're also planning to assassinate you and the other seven Heroes during the Reunion."

"Right," Blake said, irritated that they would try something like that. "I'll be sure to keep my eyes open. Thanks Illia." Illia smiled and nodded, before turning around and heading out of the building. Blake watched her go, wondering why she was in such a hurry. Once Illia was gone and Blake was alone, she started to think about what had to happen in order to put her in this high of a position.

After driving the White Fang out of Haven Academy and reuniting with her team, Blake decided to stay with them and fight to protect the other two academies. After learning about Salem and the Maidens, she was probably more scared than she ever was in her whole life, but she ran away too many times already, and she wasn't going to run when the world itself needed her help. Ruby and Weiss welcomed her with open arms, but Yang was much slower to trust her, since she still felt betrayed by how Blake ran when she needed her most.

After several months of Blake trying to earn Yang's trust back, Ruby eventually had enough and had her sister go on a particularly dangerous mission with the Faunus. After being forced to work together to take down a massive tower of Swarmers, Blake finally earned Yang's trust and the two became close friends again, even though they were both angry at Ruby for nearly getting them both killed.

After saving both Shade and Atlas Academy from destruction, Blake was with the others when Ruby announced that she was going to become the next head of Beacon. Seeing her resolve inspired Blake to take back control of the White Fang and lead it the way it was meant to be. After tracking down Adam, she challenged him to a fight for the title of High Leader of the White Fang. After an intense battle of strength and wits, Blake was able to defeat Adam and take control of the White Fang, though she was hospitalized for several days afterwards. While Adam's loyalists refused to acknowledge Blake's command, the rest sided with her and joined the new organization that had formed in Menagerie.

With the White Fang now listening to her, Blake decided to lead them into battle against the Grimm occupying Beacon Academy. By assisting the Huntsmen and Huntresses in retaking the school, she was able to restore respect to the White Fang and the Faunus in general. It wasn't much, but it was a step in the right direction.

Shaking her head to clear it, Blake got up from her throne and walked to her bedroom, about ready to turn in for the night. Stopping in front of the full-length mirror, she looked into it and smiled, remembering how much she changed over the years. Her body was laced with scars and burn marks, most of them fairly small save for the three deep claw marks on her back, a mark that Adam branded her with. Her left cat ear was missing entirely, forcing her to wear a special filter plug to protect the exposed canal, and her right ear was noticeably bigger, similar to her mother's. Her hair was cut to shoulder length as well, and her features had turned slightly more cat-like. She had gained noticeable muscle tissue in her arms and legs, though most wouldn't notice due to her current outfit.

While she didn't think she had to, her parents convinced her she needed to wear something that represented her status as High Leader. After some time, and many discussions with her mother, Blake managed to find an outfit that suited both her and her position. This new outfit consists of a black sleeveless yukata outlined in white, a black and white hakama over a pair of dark purple stretchy pants, and a violet shrug with long sleeves that bell out at the ends. The back of the shrug extended down to her ankles, doubling as a cape to make her look more regal, and emblazoned on the back was the emblem of the new White Fang: the head of a wolf looking up to the sky, eyes wide open and full of hope.

"Admiring yourself in the mirror again?" Blake heard from behind her. Turning around, she saw Illia entering through the window of her bedroom, smiling her somewhat shy smile.

"You could've just used the door, Illia," Blake said, slightly irritated but still happy to see her. During their adventures, Blake and Illia had grown extremely close, eventually falling for each other by the time they got to Atlas. When they returned to Menagerie, Blake told her parents about her choice to be with Illia. Ghira wasn't happy about it— he didn't seem to like anyone who falls for his daughter— but Kali was much more open to it.

"What's the point in us being together if I can't surprise you?" Illia said teasingly, walking forward to embrace Blake in a hug. "So, are you looking forward to the Reunion?"

Blake just smiled and returned the hug. "Of course I am," she said. "But I'm going to be at Vale before then. I've got some business I'd like to take care of before the Reunion."

"Huh?" Illia replied, confused. Walking towards one of the holographic projectors, Blake turned it on and played back the most recent message. A bluish full-body projection appeared, displaying the leader of the Eight Heroes and Headmistress of Beacon, Ruby Rose.

"Uhh, is this thing on yet? Hello, testing." Ruby said, stooped over slightly before standing up abruptly. "Oh! Uhh, ahem. Hey Blake, I uhh, I got your message, and I actually agree with you: it's time that Menagerie was recognized as it's own kingdom, and building a Huntsman Academy and a CCT Tower is a great start. Still, lots of people in the Councils don't like the idea, so it's gonna take some convincing. I've already contacted the other Headmasters, and they said that we have their votes, but we need a 51% majority at least. I'll talk to the other Council members, but we can already forget about getting Topaz's vote— that one-dimensional bleach-blonde valley-girl never agreed with me on anything. We also have a few racists still holding seats, but many of the others will listen to what I have to say. Maybe if you came to Vale and presented your case to the Councils, we'd have a better chance of getting that majority. Plus, I kinda need a friendly face around here; Glynda's been killing me lately. Welp, that's all I have to say for now, Blake. See you soon!"

Once the message ended, Illia stood still for a few minutes, thinking. Eventually she looked at Blake. "Ruby looks really different without her cloak," she said, earning a raised eyebrow from her girlfriend. "So, you want to build an Academy here? I like the idea, but where are we going to put it? The island is already crowded enough."

"I've already been talking to my parents about that," Blake replied, smiling. "In the end, we decided that it should be built into the side of one of the mountains, with the CCT Tower built on the peak."

"Let's just hope you don't get intimidated by all those Councilmen looking down at you when you say your piece." Illia joked.

"Me?" Blake said in mock offense. "I've fought power-hungry psychopaths, Adam Taurus, and Grimm that would make you want to tear your eyes out. At this point, I can't think of anything that scares me anymore."

At that point, the sounds of shouting and gunshots reached their ears. A White Fang guard burst through the door to Blake's chambers, panting for breath. "High Leader Belladonna!" The guard gasped. "We're under attack!"

"Who is it!?" Blake demanded. "Is it the Red Fang?"

The answer came when a blurry figure sped past the guard, heading straight towards Blake. She immediately saw a glowing blue blade heading for her neck, and bent over backwards to avoid it. As soon as she did, she felt a leg sweep her's out from under her. Using the momentum of her body, she flipped onto her hands and handsprung backwards to the wall that held Gambol Shroud. Grabbing it from the display, she turned to parry another attack from the unknown figure and then countered with a slash of her own. The figure jumped out of the way only for Illia to lash out with her weapon, wrapping the whip-like blade around his body. Blake used the distraction to her advantage, bounding over to the opposite wall and grabbing Adam's weapons, Wilt and Blush. Holstering them on her waist and removing her hakama, she turned to face the intruder. Her eyes widened angrily when she saw him grinding his boot into Illia's head. Unsheathing Gambol Shroud, she transformed it into a pistol and threw it at him, holding onto the ribbon attached to it. The weapon wrapped around his body, and she threw him out the open window.

Sighing in relief, she started towards Illia to check on her when a glowing blue object wrapped around her neck, choking her. While she tried to remove it, the glowing whip pulled her away from Illia— and out the same window she threw the intruder from. Landing on her back, she immediately sprung to her feet and faced the mysterious man. He was young— he couldn't have been older than Ruby— and surprisingly handsome, with lightly tanned skin, fierce yellow eyes and long silver hair that was slicked back, with four bangs framing his face. His ears were pointed, giving him an almost elf-like appearance. He almost seemed bored, with an uninterested look in his eyes, as if he'd rather be anywhere else right now.

"Who are you?!" Blake shouted. "Who do you work for?! Why are you here?!"

The young man grinned. "My name is Xehanort. I have come here for you. As for who I work for…" Xehanort got into a wide fighting stance, his glowing blades held in a reverse grip in front of him, the left blade perpendicular to his body and the right angled slightly upward. "Come with me and you'll find out. I'd hate to slice off your other ear."

Blake narrowed her eyes, unsheathed Wilt and placed the sword's hilt in her mouth, holding the sheathe of Gambol Shroud in her left hand and the inner sword in her right, staring at her opponent wordlessly.

"Straight to the fight?" Xehanort asked, grinning. "I respect that." He then surged forward, faster than most humans could follow, his blades reaching Blake's throat in a split second. But Blake wasn't human, and she jumped back out of the way, leaving a clone to distract him. As soon as Xehanort struck the clone, it dissolved into nothing, leaving him confused for a brief moment, which was all the time Blake needed to deliver a volley of attacks from her three blades. Xehanort dodged the blades before blocking a slash from the sword held in Blake's jaw. Pushing back, he forced the blade out of her mouth before retaliating with a series of slashes with his own blades. Blake backflipped out of the way with another clone, but this time he was ready for her, and combining his blades into a much longer staff, he lashed out, striking her in the stomach.

Blake felt the air rushing out of her lungs, and collapsed on her hands and knees, momentarily stunned. "Alright, I'm impressed," Xehanort admitted. "But there's no need to drag this on any longer." Sheathing his blades, he held out a hand towards the prone Faunus. "If you just come with me, no one else will be harmed, and as soon as you are no longer needed, you will be returned here safely."

Blake glared up at Xehanort, but stopped when she felt a terrifyingly familiar sensation. ' _No, not now!_ ' She thought. Quickly closing her eyes, she tried to force it down, but Xehanort seemed to pick up on it.

"Oh, what's this?" Xehanort said, intrigued. "Seems like you have more darkness than I thought, but it doesn't seem to be yours. Maybe implanted into you by someone more powerful? Heh, this world is full of surprises."

"This... world?" Blake gasped, still struggling to contain what was trying to break free. "What... what are you talking about?"

"Never mind that," Xehanort grunted, though it was more out of disinterest than being cryptic. "Tell me, who gave you this darkness? I've been hearing about a being named Salem, was it her?" Blake immediately scrambled away at the mention of the Dark Queen, snarling like an animal. "So it was. Fascinating." Xehanort muttered, slowly approaching the snarling Faunus. "I wonder, what can you do with that power? The darkness effects everyone differently, so what does it do to you?"

"Get away!" Blake shouted, trying to stay in control.

"Why?" Xehanort asked, frustrated. "I just attacked you in your own home, injured dozens of your guards, and knocked your lover unconscious. If anyone is deserving of your wrath, it's me." He then grinned sadistically, having an idea "Or maybe I need to take the lizard girl from you forever."

That was what did it for Blake. The darkness in her, left behind by Salem, took her over completely. Her eyes shot open, pupils now narrow slits, the sclera pitch black. Her skin became coated in a black, Grimm-like second skin. Sharp spines sprouted from her back, arms and legs, ripping her shrug and pants to pieces. Razor sharp claws sprouted from the tips of her fingers, which then tore off the tattered shrug. The creature then stood to her feet, glaring angrily at the young man who looked on, awestruck.

"Incredible," Xehanort said, transfixed. "I might just have to keep you a little bit longer. Well then, let's see how strong your new power really is."

The now feral Blake let out a hate-filled roar, before launching herself at the mysterious young man.

 **Blake's Chambers**

Illia stirred, a pounding in her head. Groaning, she sat up and rubbed her head, trying to clear it. Then she remembered what just happened.

"Blake!" She cried, her skin turning yellow in fear. Jumping to her feet, she looked around frantically to find nothing. Rushing to the window, she looked out to see the man who attacked them holding an unconscious Blake over his shoulder. Blake's clothes were ripped to pieces, and there were multiple cuts and bruises all over her body, but the man looked completely unharmed.

"LET GO OF HER!" Illia screamed, jumping out of the window and lashing out with her weapon, her skin blood red. The man didn't even look at her, disappearing in a pillar of darkness, and all Illia struck was thin air. Illia fell to her knees in horror, then covered her face and wept, her entire body turning blue. After nearly an hour of weeping, she collected herself and ran to an uninjured guard.

"Get me a ship to Vale," she demanded. "I have to tell Ruby what happened."


	7. Restless Night

**Remnant's White Light**

 **Chapter 6**

 **Restless night**

 **Dorm Room**

 **Beacon Academy**

The dorm of Beacon Academy was built to ensure the students could live on campus in relative comfort. Each room was assigned to a specific team, and that team was allowed to decorate it in any way they saw fit. All rooms were equipped with four beds, two bookshelves, a moderately sized closet, and a full bathroom. During the school year, most of these rooms were filled with students who would normally retire there after class. However, only one of the dorm rooms was occupied at the time, and it's three residents were too busy thinking to sleep.

"Wow," Sora said. "I had no idea this world was always in that much chaos."

"Yeah," Kairi replied quietly. "I wonder if Yen Sid knew anything about it."

"Probably not," Riku answered. "Like he said, there hasn't been a Keyblade wielder here for over seventy years, and he apparently didn't take the time to learn about the nature of this world. Still..."

The Keyblade trio had just finished listening to Ruby's story after telling theirs, and were still trying to wrap their heads around what they learned. Apparently, the people of Remnant possess what they call an Aura, the physical manifestation of their souls, which they can use as both a shield and a weapon. They also have access to a type of material known as Dust, which powers their machines and allows them to wield the many forces of nature. It wasn't real magic though— that was reserved for a select few beings that only a handful of people know about. The Wizard of Remnant was a man who was cursed to reincarnate every time he died, but he also possessed immense magical powers. From the Wizard's magic came four new beings: The Seasonal Maidens, capable of wielding the forces of nature without using Dust. When a Maiden dies, there powers tend to go to the last person in their thoughts, but only if that person is a young woman.

And then there was Ruby, the last Gintama. Aside from the soul reading she used on the trio, Ruby possesses a wide variety of light-based powers. Able to unleash raw energy in the form of white light, she can do almost anything, from sending out bright flashes to blind her opponents to coating herself and her weapon in a burning hot energy armor to firing concentrated blasts powerful enough to destroy buildings. On top of that, her power was apparently the antithesis of all magic on Remnant, granting her an advantage against the Maidens and the Wizard. Even the Grimm were helpless against her, since she can kill them with a mere thought.

By the time Ruby had finished her story, it had gotten dark out, so she decided to give the trio Team RWBY's old dorm room to rest and think things over.

"So," Sora asked. "Any ideas why Xehanort came here?"

"I think I have a theory," Kairi said slowly. Sora looked at her and waited for her to continue. "Well, the people of Remnant use their souls instead of their hearts, right? Also, the Wizard is able to transfer his soul to another person when he dies. Maybe that's what Xehanort wants to know, so he can do the same thing to the rest of Organization XIII."

"Wait, why would he go to all that trouble?" Sora asked, skeptical about the idea. "He's already implanted fragments of his heart in most of the members."

"Maybe it's not enough," Riku chipped in, staring at the wall in front of him, as if he wasn't paying attention. "There were rebellions in the previous Organization because it's members had their own individuality. It couldn't have come from their hearts, because they didn't have any, so maybe Xehanort wants to make absolutely sure they won't turn on him this time."

Sora's eyes widened. He thought having a piece of someone else's heart forcing control over him was already terrifying, but having his own soul ripped from his body and replaced with someone like Xehanort was just sickening to think about.

"Well, at least Ruby agreed to help us," Kairi said, trying to shift the topic.

"She hasn't really, Kairi." Sora said. "She just told us that she'll think about it. That doesn't mean she'll fight with us."

"Yeah," Riku muttered distantly. When the other two looked at him, they saw that he was thinking about something: he was sitting up on his bed, arms crossed in front of him and his head tilted slightly downward, a sign that something was bugging him.

"What's the matter, Riku?" Sora asked, snapping his friend out of his thoughts.

"I just," Riku started, then sighed. "It's about Ruby."

"What, got a crush on her?" Sora teased, making Kairi giggle.

"Wait, what? _No!_ " Riku replied, a little too quickly. The other two burst out laughing at his response, and he waited until they recovered. "There's just something strange about her," he continued, his face slightly red. "Every time we asked someone about who she is, they always say the same thing: they say that Ruby's a selfless hero who leads by example and puts the interests of the Kingdom before her own. She also told us herself that she has the power to control white light."

"Yeah, so?"

"So," Riku continued, "Why did I sense an alarming amount of darkness in her heart?"

The other two looked at each other, then back at Riku. "You can do that now?" Kairi asked.

"Yeah, I'm a Keyblade master," Riku said. "Anyway, not only is her heart full of darkness, but it's also fighting with something. The darkness in Ruby's heart is, for some reason, locked in combat with another part of her body, maybe her soul."

"But why?" Sora asked. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know," Riku muttered. "But I'm pretty sure that she's not telling us everything. We need to be careful with her, so try not to let on that we know."

"I think we should focus on finding Xehanort," Sora said. "If Ruby's really dangerous, then we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I don't think she wants to hurt us."

As Sora and Riku kept debating about Ruby, Kairi didn't say anything. She didn't like the idea of talking about Ruby behind her back, especially since she already gave them a good amount of help. But at the same time, she knew Riku had a point, and that they should be ready to expect the unexpected. Despite herself, she ended up asking herself what Lea would do in this kind of situation.

She grimaced slightly when she realized that Lea would have just kicked back and not cared at all.

"Then it's settled," Sora said. "We focus on getting Xehanort off of Remnant, but keep one eye on Ruby at all times." Riku nodded in agreement, and the two looked over at Kairi.

"Sure, if it's the best plan we have." Kairi answered, then yawned. "Listen guys, it's getting late, we should probably get some sleep."

The boys nodded and turned off the lights, climbed under the duvet of their beds, and in a few minutes the trio was drifting off to sleep.

 **Beacon docks**

Ruby sat half awake on the edge of the docking platform, staring at the flask in her hands, trying to make sense of what the three other-worlders just told her. She normally avoided drinking, and only kept the flask full out of respect for her uncle, but this was hardly a normal night. The trio told her that Ansem was an incarnation of a Keyblade master named Xehanort. The reason he didn't have a soul was because some time ago, Xehanort split himself into two halves: a Heartless and a Nobody. The Heartless were created when humans succumbed to the darkness in their heart. The Nobodies were the empty shells of strong-willed people who became Heartless. Xehanort's Heartless became known as Ansem, while his Nobody took on the name Xemnas. Xehanort, Ansem and Xemnas are now forming a group called Organization XIII, which is searching for the ultimate power in the universe.

 _'Man, things just got really convoluted.'_ Ruby thought as she took another swig from her uncle's flask. She immediately started feeling woozy after that, so she put the cap back on and pocketed the flask. Her mind kept going back to Salem, and how she and Oscar barely managed to beat her. If Xehanort was any stronger, then it's possible that she might not survive an all-out battle with him.

 _You will never be rid of me._

Those words never stopped ringing in Ruby's mind. While it seemed unrelated, she couldn't help but think that Salem's death was what brought Remnant to Xehanort's attention.

 _You will never be rid of me._

Was it her fault? Did she unintentionally put her own world in even greater danger by destroying an already powerful being? Was Salem secretly guiding these people here to exact revenge on her? It seemed ridiculous, but Salem was never killed before, so anything could be possible.

 _You will never be rid of me._

As she continued to think, heeled footsteps approached her, causing her head to jolt up. "Great, just what I need." Ruby groaned, turning around Glynda Goodwitch looking down at her.

"Having trouble sleeping, again?" Glynda asked, with a touch of genuine concern in her otherwise stern voice. Ruby blinked, then sighed and lowered her head.

"I just learned what I'm up against," She replied. "It's bad. Apparently this Xehanort guy decided to come to Remnant, looking for something, and he doesn't care if he has to destroy the world to get it." She looked back at Glynda and saw her wide eyes. "So it's not just me. So, uhh, how'd you know about the Keyblade, anyway?"

Glynda shook her head to clear it. "Ozpin mentioned it once," she said. "He told me that the last time he met one was about a decade after the Great War. There hasn't been one since, and that one was there to stop a group of monsters from throwing Remnant into chaos."

"Oh," Ruby answered simply.

"So," Glynda continued. "How much did you tell them?"

"Hmm? Oh! Uhh, well I kinda left out the thing about me and Cinder, but other than that, I pretty much told them everything." Ruby said.

Glynda raised an eyebrow. "You left that part out?"

"What?" Ruby said defensively. "They don't need to know. Look, maybe I'll tell them if it's important, but I kinda want to keep it to myself. Besides, it's not like they can do anything about it."

"True," Glynda agreed. She may not always agree with Ruby's methods of running the school, but there were times when they had similar ideas. Many of the improvements to the campus were the result of the two agreeing that they were needed, including the new sparring rings and the larger dorms. Ruby may be a little too headstrong for Glynda's comfort, but even she was wrong about the new Headmistress.

She still wasn't going to admit it, though.

"Well," Glynda said, looking down at Ruby. "If you're going to help these young warriors save the world, you need to be in peak condition. That means getting a full night's sleep and a balanced breakfast." She turned to walk away, only to half-turn back. "Oh, and drink some water before you go to sleep. Your breath is starting to remind me of your uncle."

Ruby stared at Glynda as she walked away, then breathed into her arm and sniffed.

 **Mountain Glenn**

In the center of the abandoned city, an immense darkness was brewing. Two figures dressed in black were standing in front of an enormous black portal, eyes closed, concentrating. The Grimm in the area sensed the unreal power emanating from them, and the loss of their ruler made them more timid, so they backed away and left the men in black alone.

The two men were Ansem and Xemnas, and they were preparing for the upcoming battle with Ruby Rose. They still weren't fully certain about the Headmistress's full potential, so they had decided to summon a Heartless large enough to gauge her strengths and weaknesses. Ansem was using his connection to the monsters to draw one out, while Xemnas was maintaining the Corridor that it needed to pass through. This particular Heartless was difficult to maneuver, but it wasn't as powerful as most others. The goal was to push Ruby to her mental and physical limit, forcing her to call upon the darkness to aid her. Afterwards, they would retreat and observe from the shadows, looking for signs of Cinder returning to take control. If Cinder did return, and Ruby was unable to retake control, they knew they would not have to worry about the other members resisting Xehanort's heart. If Ruby was able to regain control, however, then they would continue to research how to transfer the soul of one being into another.

Either way, Ruby Rose was going to play a significant role in their attempts to understand the nature of the human soul.

As the two continued, another Corridor opened, and Xehanort walked out carrying an unconscious Blake Belladonna. "I'm surprised you haven't brought that here by now," he said in his stoic but confident voice. Neither one answered his jab, and simply focused on the task at hand. Xehanort sighed, already knowing that they would continue to ignore him. Despite being a complete incarnation of Master Xehanort, most of the Organization views themselves above him. They saw him as an arrogant child who had too much confidence in his powers.

Instead of getting worked up about it, Xehanort left them to their task and brought the cat-girl to a nearby, ruined building. Entering the derelict structure, he found a room that was mostly intact and placed her inside. Looking around, he gauged the size and shape of the room and decided it needed to be bigger. Heading to a nearby wall, he struck it several times with his Ethereal Blades until it crumbled, joining the room to another. Now finished, Xehanort then bound Blake's arms and legs with chains. He considered gagging her, but decided against it, knowing she would probably call for Ruby to help as long as she didn't know what was going on.

Satisfied, the young man left the building and watched as the Heartless finally arrived through the Corridor. It was an enormous monster, at least two stories tall, and had a hide of different shades of purple. It walked on four legs, each ending in a gigantic hoof. Two massive tusks sprouted from the sides of it's mouth, and a smaller, cone-shaped horn sat atop it's head. The Behemoth looked around at it's new surroundings, before focusing on Ansem, who was using his power to control it.

"Is summoning a Heartless this size really nessessary?" Xehanort asked. "If we aren't careful, one of the Keyblade wielders may show up and make our mission more difficult."

"Let them try," Ansem chuckled. "By the time they arrive, it will already be too late."

Xemnas nodded silently, but Xehanort looked unsure, looking around the area. "Has Saïx returned yet?" He asked.

"Not yet," Xemnas answered. "But he should be arriving momentarily."

Xehanort nodded, then turned towards the Behemoth, which was holding still under Ansem's influence. _'You had better be as powerful as the people of Remnant say you are, Ruby Rose.'_ He thought. _'Because soon, you will be pushed beyond what you thought was possible. We did not come all this way to learn nothing.'_

 _ **To be continued...**_


End file.
